1/2 in. x 50 ft. Drain Auger

Thinking I had a minor clog, I first bought a 15' auger. I reached the end of that real quick, with no clog in site. Back to Home Depot. I knew the 15' snake couldn't reach the clog, but obviously I still didn't know how far I had to snake. So rather than pickup a 25' auger, I went right to the 50'. I figured better to have too much than not enough, again. Good thing too because the clog was probably around 30 - 35 feet. The snake itself is well built, and the handle is easy enough to use. It does require some heavy lifting, but nothing an average guy can't handle. If you're unclogging a drain 2" in size or greater, I recommend going for the 50' snake. It is a little troublesome to pack it back up, but honestly how many times do you plan on using it. I attached a nice picture for everyone to see what was living in our drain for the last 15 years. Enjoy. :)

I was hesitent to buy this becuase i though it would be too tight for my 2” kitchen cleanout, but it went in and through the bends so easilly - which gave good indication that I have hit the clog. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to turn using the included tool - even with much of the cable behind me. I had to take it to 40’ before I got the drain satisfactorrily cleaned out and no problem. The construction is so good it tranfers energy to end efficiently.

Worked for my problem. Only issue I had was the handles came unattached from the twisting piece.

I'm rating this a 5 out of 5 because for the price this is a great snake and it got the job done. Be cautious when you cut the straps, it is wound pretty tight in the box and it will immediately try to unwind when you cut the last strap. I drilled a hole in a 5 gallon bucket lid and fed the snake out of the bucket. It worked well. See attached photo. This snake will fit in a 1/2 inch drill, but of course if most of the snake is still outside the drain you need to be 50 feet away and have plenty of room to have a messy snake flopping around. I did connect my drill once it was most of the way into the drain.

Worked like a charm after a 25' snake only seemed to push the problem down the pipe. It does require a bit of manhandling but, frankly, I was concerned about doing damage to galvanized pipe with an electric snake. So I just fed it about 8' at a time when I hit the blockage. It drains well now!

Economical but minimal tool for clearing clogged drain pipes. Aimed at drains much longer than most house drains. To clear a clog, you push and turn a long flexible "stick" until the clog is dislodged, then pull your filthy tool back. This is not a nice job. Especially in a small clean space like a bathroom. It goes better if you have a "drum auger/snake" which coils-up the long snake so you don't have 50 feet of "yuck" flopping around the room. For anything more than a toilet clog, it also goes better with power to spin the auger. A 3/8" 30' power drum auger is about $180; a 1/2" 50' like this one is about $300. Just a snake, without a drum, may be manageable in a cellar. Or out on my driveway drain. And for a one-time (I hope) job, under $30 is 1/10th the price of a good power drum auger. The product picture above shows a naked snake and handle tied in a bundle. I have seen augers sold this way. However in my store this product was packed in a large red box (see image), turned so I did not see the description or content. There's no neat way to unpack it. Take it outside and snip the ties, let it spring open. Shove the large end into your pipe. Keep going until you hit resistance. Slide the handle up the snake to within a couple feet of the pipe, and gently tighten the screw. Work the snake in and out. This may break-up the clog. Turning the snake may help. I agree that the screw threaded in thin pipe can not get a "tight clamp" without stripping the thread. But notice that you can NOT put a heavy twist on a long spring. When it catches in the clog the spring just kinks. The most effective technique is to feed with very slight pressure and make many turns to chew into the clog with tiny nibbles. That's why the handle has only a small bend, and the clamp is not more substantial: you don't want major force, you want to spin and spin and spin. I got about 30 feet in and hit rocks and clay. If I forced and turned the snake would bind-up and kink. The end of this snake will just fit a 1/2" power drill. I put my slowest drill on it and spun at the LOWest speed. The snake "screwed" into the pipe. When I sensed the least resistance I held-back and let the end of the snake whip-around, chewing the clog without binding in it. Of course it bound-up frequently. Reversing the drill tends to screw-back and unjams the snake. I worked this way a few minutes and got a trickle of muddy water to come out. I moved to the other end, did the same a few minutes, and got a bigger muddy trickle. Better than it has been in months. I will repeat it a few times. However I now suspect it will never be wide-open clear until I dig-up that section of drain. Using the $30 tool told me that without investing in a $300 tool, and feeling compelled to force it until it broke. So.... good inexpensive tool if you don't mind tedious dirty work.

Only complaint is it comes out of the bucket as you spin it but that can be expected overall a great product use it all the time on jobs much more convoent than a bog augger

After 25 foot Husky would not clear drain and cable would not go back into housing, returned and bought this. (1) No instructions on handle attachment so see picture. (2) Since not in some sort of case, need a lot of room for cable where you using it. (3) With twist assist handle on cable, can still be tough to twist cable when a lot of cable down pipe. (4) Must have paper towels to clean cable off as you remove from drain as it will be dirty and get all over where you are working. (5) Ran it completely into drain just by pushing the first time and then did entire drain again, twisting every so many feet and moving cable back and forth. To store, did not even try to get back into box but coiled and used cable ties to keep coiled.

First of all, I'm giving this 4 stars because 1. it is functional and 2. it worked to clear my drain. That isn't to say that this is easy to use! Let me say that again, this is not something 90% of women will be able to use and it is a smelly messy proposition for any DIYer out there. My problem was a slow running drain somewhere in the pipe that is plumbed to both my master sinks and the kitchen sink, so it was kinda far down the line. I bought a Husky 25 foot 1/4 inch auger that you can attach a drill to and it was SO EASY to use compared to this thing, but it wasn't long enough. It was long enough to get to the end of the restriction, but it made the problem worse by stirring up the junk at one end, but not getting all the way through it. So, onto this beast. First of all, when cutting the zip ties be ready for it to spring open. I cut them with my foot on the snake to control the opening and it worked. I tried to then wrap it into a 5 gallon bucket for some control of the wire, but didn't work, it kept springing out. I ended up resorting to just leaving the 50 foot section on the kitchen floor while I snaked it in. Snaking - my wrist got tired really quick. I'm 33, 6'0 and 190. I'm not the strongest dude in the world, but I'm no slouch either. This was hard to work with. I ended up using vise grips on the handle to turn it while I used my left arm to put pressure going into the drain. This was only because of how my plumbing was set up and I couldn't use it the other way. Note - get vise grips to turn the handle or some other locking sort of pliers, that makes things much easier. Overall, this did the job but it was not easy to use. In the future, I will probably try this again, but I will be hard pressed not to just run to a rental store and rent a 1/2 power auger. Either that or I will consider purchasing a 50 foot power auger like the Brasscraft one for $275. I see tools as an investment and while this is a functional tool, it is HARD to work with. Try the Husky 1/4 25 foot one with drill attachment first. If that doesn't work, at least you have a nice tool for future problems if it should arise.

Bigplumbing projects need a big auger. This is a big auger. When you unwrap this tool it immediately hits you that you have a frind on your side to beat your drain problem. the first thing to do is put the handle in place. If you don't have an idea where the clog is push the un clogging end in until you feel resistence. then pull the handle toward the pipe entry point. tighten the handle and start working ir around. losen, - tighten, loosen etc until you are free flowing. Run water gently and make sure the clog is gone before you wash the tool off and put it away. i use a simple set of pliers to tighten and loosen the handle and bungee cords to store it.