Pro tip: that $150 'professional grade' plumbing snake was a total dud

Bought one from Home Depot off Piedmont after my main line clogged at 3 AM, and it broke on the second twist. Borrowed a neighbor's $40 manual auger and had it cleared in 10 minutes. Anybody else had luck with the cheap ones over the fancy junk?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_martin8d ago

gavin_kim nailed it with "professional grade at 3am means it'll break by sunrise" lol. I had almost the exact same thing happen with a "heavy duty" drain snake from Lowes. Paid like $120 for it, got it home, and the cable snapped on the first real turn I made. My neighbor walked over with this ancient hand crank one he probably got at a garage sale for five bucks, and it worked perfect. I swear these companies just slap "pro grade" on stuff to charge double and hope you don't use it hard enough to test it. The cheap manual ones are tougher because there's less to break, just a solid piece of metal and your own arm power. I've fixed three clogs with that same cheap auger since then and it's still going strong.

gavin_kim8d ago

professional grade" at 3am means it'll break by sunrise.

abby_cooper8d ago

That exact same thing happened to me with a "commercial" shop vac from Home Depot - motor burned out on the second use. My granddad's old metal one from the 70s still runs like a champ.