Drain snake stuck in pipe
Drain snakes can get trapped, tangled, or lost inside shared pipe systems, sometimes tunneling into adjacent apartment drains or getting left behind by previous contractors. This blocks the line completely and forces workers to cut into walls or pipes just to retrieve the trapped equipment.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1cutting into walls or pipes to retrieve the stuck cable
- 2pulling back and forth on the cable from another unit or connection
- 3Trying to remove the stuck snake piece
- 4Descaling the line with a chain snake or a jetter
- 5Getting estimates to dig up and replace a section or all of the pipe
- 6Doing a DIY repair
- 7Pull the cable completely out of the machine outside and feed it back in.
- 8Unplug the machine and slowly spin it by hand in the opposite direction while straightening the kink and pulling the line.
- 9Spin the machine in reverse to relieve tension, then pull it out and push the loop back into the cage.
- 10Using a snake to clear the clog temporarily
- 11Considering hydro jetting instead of snaking
- 12Getting a camera scope down the drain
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Working as a maintenance contractor at a hotel i was asked to unclog a urinal. Plumbers had come and claimed to have snaked the line and found the blockage under the floor. Said the floor would need tore up. 10k job. Owner asked me to take a look. I cut into the wall and took out a chunk of the 2in pipe. Found an old drain snake blocking the line only 12in from the urinal.”source ↗
“In 1999 I had my cable come up in the adjacent apartment’s bathroom sink after going down a back to back sink drain unknowingly. The tenant was home and in a moment of genius grabbed the cable and started jerking on it then after I paused he pulled the whole damn thing out into his apartment completely stripping it from my machine.”source ↗
“We have a kitchen drain that has clogged 3 times in maybe 18 months. Snake clears it everythings fine for a while and then it slowly starts backing up again.”source ↗
“It over flows when the washer discharges.”source ↗
“The item in the pipe I believe is the tip to the snake from the plumber I hired to fix the problem.”source ↗
“I can’t seem to get the scope any further, does it look collapsed to you guys?”source ↗
“I rented this today and am stuck here. Any advice ?”source ↗
“Probably had 50 feet out and then it wouldn’t come out anymore.”source ↗
“I guess I could have just reversed everything, and returned it, but I have a wife who wants to take a shower and we haven’t been able to for day, so I started trying to get more out. Whoops.”source ↗