Vastar 7.62M Snake Drain Unblocker Drain Auger, Toilet Drain Unblocker Tools, Flexible Sink Plunger, Drain Unblocker Tools for Bathroom/Kitchen Sink/Shower Drain with Gloves and Storage Bag

(If you don't want to read the preamble, go straight to second paragraph.) I had sluggish water drain from my walk-in shower, which is fairly new - only 18 months since installation. Tried various things but nothing really helped for long. I came to the conclusion there was some kind of blockage which needed to be cleared, but how was the question. I bought a spare drain fixture in a sale, not to fit it but to understand the construction better. I discovered it contained a feature that allowed a snake or spring to be inserted for maintenance purposes. The diagram showed a drum auger or drain auger, which was completely new to me. I learned more about them on You Tube. But how to choose one? I felt it was critical to get one that was fairly big, but which would pass easily through the aperture provided, especially when taking it out again. I measured the aperture using a variety of drill bits (on my spare fixture), and decided on 15mm diameter as my ideal size for the front end of the spring. I then browsed the Amazon site and elsewhere, and with the aid of a spread sheet, selected this one by Vastar.I probed the drain three times in all, getting a bit deeper every time. It was fairly straightforward to use, with care. Remember to put down old towels etc to protect the shower tray. I was interesting the way it found bends in the pipe and then moved on. I only pulled out a small amount of hair and muck, but this morning we discovered an amazing improvement in water drain from the shower tray. I can only conclude that the spring cleared or moved a blockage down the pipe to a point where it didn't affect water flow. Wow! The spring has sufficient rigidity to keep straight over several meters of extension. The gloves were useful as there is some grease on the spring. Hopefully I can out the auger away in the storage bag for a long time before it's needed again.

Easy to use once you have removed U bend. Spring won't go through plug hole. Pipe wasn't totally blocked but all detritus was removed with ease. Will enter pipe from outside next time so don't have to remove U bend.

Really pleased! .... to the point where I felt compelled to write a review and that's not usually me.Cleared my blocked long length sink plastic waste pipe which had also affected my dishwasher and had error faults flashing up. Sink and dishwasher now working perfectly. Wish I'd bought this first rather than the chemical drain unblockers which didn't work. Easy to use and no expensive plumber or dishwasher engineer needed! Now I also have it ready for the next time. :0)

I managed to feed it through 7 bends. You do have to follow the instructions precisely for when to wind etc.Getting it out again was trickier.It needs a marker on the wire to show when you have almost released all of the wire, because if you unwind it all it comes out of the cassette and doesn’t go back in. Fortunately this only happened to me at the end of the job. But it did mean I couldn’t wind it back out via the cassette and handle mechanism and had to rely on pulling and wiggling by hand.

Product was purchased to clear a choked WC, failed miserably, literally money done the drain!

I bought this for a blocked sink, that had resisted chemical treatments and needed and it worked, but only after using it as a rodding pole, as the spinning action doesn't work - and its a manual feed in and out. And the gloves aren't fit for purpose, and I doubt the longevity of the tool - reasons for these below:Don't buy it until you have considered the following:+ves+ The snake is just that, it snaked around 3 bends and I needed the full 7m of extension+ it allowed me to 'rod' the blockage and cleared it, so it worked for me-ves- You may have to remove the u-bend to access the blocked pipe as the end didnt fit down my plug hole- the gloves are too small for my medium sized hands- the gloves look it but arent fully waterproof, so if you want a 'sanitary' experience, you'll need waterproof gloves- its hard to reel it in and out without it popping out of the reel (as it is starts to resist being confined in the housing), so you may need to use both hands and clamp the unit with a leg or something- its hard to clean the snake and ensure it is water dry before it reels back in - so you will likely collect some water in the reel, which will leak out or may lead to rust, so make sure you fully dry the snake before storing (where - dunno - you'll need space - I laid mine out in my garden)- the spinning action just doesn't work at longer extensions, the cable just winds itself up...All in all - it worked for me, but if I had known all this, I would have got a powered snake working off a drill - but on a budget it might just work for you, but with flaws.