How to Snake and Fix a Slow Draining Urinal

Urinals are way more convenient than toilets since they allow any guests to quickly finish their business in the restroom.

Also, they consume way less water and they are definitely easier to clean and maintain.

But, what happens when urinal gets clogged?

Clogged urinals are a real piece of work when it comes to dealing with them. They smell bad and become really unhygienic to even look at, and all of that because you are dealing with the slow drain.

However, there’s a convenient solution to this problem. Namely, with a little help of one particular tool, you can easily snake a urinal and clean it to perfection.

That’s right, you will need a plumber’s snake.

How to Fix Slow Draining Urinal

First of all, you will need to gather a couple of things in order to unclog the urinal and clean it properly. So, here are the essentials:

• Plumber’s snake
• Screwdriver
• Protective gloves
• Plunger

Now, after you collected everything, it is time to get down to business. Shall we?

Step 1 – Prepare for the Job

The first step requires you to prepare properly for this job. Now, you don’t need to worry about lifting anything heavy or even putting a lot of effort in unclogging, all you need is to wear a set of protective gloves.

Also, since urinals are usually clogged because of the calcium build-up, the smell won’t be that suiting.

So, be prepared for an hour of working in an environment of bad smell. However, the results will be satisfying in the end.

So, to summarize, just put on a pair of gloves and prepare for a dirty job. You can also get some protective goggles, but they aren’t necessary every time.

Step 2 – Gain Access

Next, the screwdriver comes in play.

Simply speaking, you will need to remove the metal drain cover in the urinal and gain access to the drain.

This seems like an easy job that can be done without any complications, but, sometimes, the metal drain cover is covered in build-up and it is not that easy to remove it.

However, there’s a couple of ways to loosen the cover first and then to remove it with a screwdriver.

So, you can either:

• Pour a bit of baking soda on top of the cover and wait for a couple of minutes,
• Or just remove the build-up with a screwdriver by constantly scratching on it.

After the metal cover is able to move a bit, you should remove the screw in the middle with a screwdriver.

That way, you will be able to remove the metal cover from the urinal and to continue working on how to fix slow draining urinal.

Step 3 – Unclog the Blockage

Now, it might seem that the urinal is only clogged at the top, but certainly, that’s not the case. So, when you remove the metal cover from the urinal, you will have full access to the drain.

You will clearly see the built-up at the top of the drain, and that’s where you will need to use a plunger.

So, there’s nothing complicated in this step, you just need to give it a few goes with a plunger and remove the clog from the top.

However, if there’s no top clog at all, that means that you have a bit more serious problem: the clog is somewhere down the pipe. And, that calls for big guns – the plumber’s snake.

But, before we get to that, let’s just stick with the plunger. As we said, use the plunger, remove the top clog, and you will have a fully open drain to work with. That’s what we need.

Step 4 – Flush the Urinal

After you removed all the build-up from the top of the drain at the urinal, it is time now to give it a good flush and see what happens.

Now, it is quite important to flush the urinal right after you removed the top build-up with the plunger. Give it a whirl.

Two things can happen now.

• First – The water goes through the drain smoothly and everything is fine.
• Second – The water gets stuck in the urinal for a bit, and then goes slowly down the drain.

If the first scenario occurs, don’t be so happy yet, it doesn’t have to mean that you got rid of the clog.

Simply put, the water might seem to go smoothly down the drain, but at some point, it could get stuck and slowly drain.

So, this means that the problem is still here and that you need to deal with it.

Step 5 - Use Plumber’s Snake

At last, we came to the part where you will be using a very convenient tool called plumber snake.

Now, this is a tool that removes clogs from the drains where your hand can’t get through. So, with a little help of a plumber snake, you can easily snake a urinal.

Now, here’s what you need to do:

1. Insert the plumber’s snake inside the drain of the urinal.
2. Push down until you reach the deeper clog.
3. Slowly and patiently jiggle around with the snake.
4. Pull the clog up the drain.

That’s all you have to do in order to fix a slow draining urinal with a snake. However, if there still is a problem with a slow drain, just repeat the process with this tool and snake a urinal again.

Get the plumber's snake meant for urinals here.

Step 6 – Flush Again

After you are done with everything, it is always a good idea to flush the urinal once again and see if it works.

Also, don’t forget to clean the metal cover before screwing it back on the urinal again.

Conclusion: On Snaking a Urinal

There you go!

That’s the whole process of getting rid of the clog inside your urinal and resolving a slow draining problem. Just make sure to follow the instructions properly and you will be good to go.