Bathtub Will Not Drain
First check whether the water is standing or rising. Standing water that drains slowly is a local blockage in the bath. Water that rises when you flush a toilet is a main line problem and a very different job.
What to do right now
Do these first. None of them need tools or plumbing knowledge, and they limit what this ends up costing you.
- Watch what happens when a toilet is flushedIf the level in the bath rises, stop. That is a main line blockage and nothing you do at the bath will help.
- Take the waste cover offBath waste fittings usually unscrew or lever out. Hair collects on the linkage immediately below and can often simply be pulled out.
- Block the overflow before plungingThe overflow plate under the taps is connected to the same waste. Held closed firmly with a wet cloth, a plunger becomes effective. Left open it does nothing.
Does this need a plumber tonight?
- Water rising in the bath when a toilet is flushed
- Multiple fixtures slow
- Sewage or foul smelling water in the bath
- Standing water draining slowly with everything else normal
- Hair visible at the waste
- A blockage clearing partially with a plunger
The overflow, again
A bath has an overflow connected directly into its own waste, so plunging without sealing it pushes air out of the overflow rather than down the pipe.
Sealing it is genuinely the difference between a plunger working and not working, and it is the step almost everyone skips. Press a wet cloth firmly over the overflow plate, or have someone hold it, then plunge with steady strokes rather than violent ones.
If the water level drops and then returns, the blockage has shifted but not cleared. Repeat rather than escalating to chemicals.
When the bath is the messenger
A bath is often the lowest fixture on an upper floor, which makes it the place a shared blockage announces itself even though the bath itself is fine.
That is why the toilet flush test comes first on this page. It costs nothing, takes ten seconds, and it separates a fifteen minute job from a main line call.
What this costs
[PLACEHOLDER: PRICING] Pending from the client.
A local bath blockage is a short visit and frequently a job you can do yourself. A main line clear is different work at a different price.
Questions people ask about this
Water comes up when I flush the toilet.
That is a main line blockage, not a bath blockage. Stop using water throughout the house and treat it as urgent.
The bath drains but very slowly.
Hair and soap on the waste linkage, almost always. Removing the cover and pulling it out clears most of them.
Can I pour drain cleaner in?
We would rather you did not. It seldom clears a hair mass and it leaves caustic liquid in the trap for whoever opens it next, which may be you.
If that is not quite what you have
Not sure how urgent this is?
Describe what you can see and hear. We will tell you whether it needs someone tonight, and what to do in the meantime either way.
Or send it over
Four things and a photo.