[Shop-talk] Drain snakes?

[Karl Vacek]

I bought a Horrible Freight drill-driven snake for a one-time job at one of
our daughters' house.  The concept is great, and actually, given that the
problems there were minor, the fact that it was a throwaway tool worked out
pretty well,  The HF snake has almost no temper, and soon was a kinked mess,
but it got the job done before it finally broke.  Decent steel would have
made all the difference in the world.  On the bright side I didn't have to
clean it when I was done - it went right into the garbage can, mess and all.

The concept of a snake in a holder that you drive with a drill is great for
a sink or tub drain.  You let out as much rod as you can deal with and when
that's all in the drain you feed a little more.  No long snake whipping
around and flinging water (etc.) all over the place.  For a 4" toilet or
floor drain you'd probably need something serious, though.

Karl

On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 5:33 PM, Mark J Bradakis <mark at bradakis.com> wrote:
> I was just at Home Depot and saw they had Ridgid Kwik-Spin drain snakes.
> Looks like it would be a fair bit easier to use than my current loose, 
> floppy
> 15 foot snake that I often use for this one troublesome section of 
> kitchen drain.  Anyone have any experience with such tools?