Here’s the setup...We’ve got 1 half-bath and laundry room on the main floor, and 2 full baths on the second floor.

Yesterday, the shower and the sink drains in one of the two upper bathrooms suddenly became clogged. The toilet was not affected, nor were any other toilet or sink in any of the other rooms.

I used white vinegar and baking soda followed by hot water in each of the two drains. After waiting a while, I flushed the toilet in the main floor bathroom, which was not clogged. After this toilet flushed, I heard an extra gurgling from the second floor. I went back upstairs and found the sink and shower drain to be completely cleared.

So...can anyone explain what happened here? I’m really delighted but quite puzzled. Thanks for your insights.


LM

not a pro here but here is my guess. Your plumbing system is all interconnected.

when one part of the line becomes clogged, it may prevent access to air to another part of the drain that is not clogged. Without the ability to vent, when you flushed the toilet, it either creates positive pressure ahead of it or negative pressure behind it as the water runs down the drain. This pressure may have dislodged the blockage. You may not be all clear. It may have partially dislodged the blockage, or only moved it a bit down the pipe, and may create a blockage again as more debris is sent down.

Thanks for your response. That makes s lot of sense.

maybe your acid - base reaction did clear the clog? Now to prevent this from happening again you or someone else could run a cable through the shower drain and then through the hand sink drain. Wouldn't need to go far because these are just branches to the main drain. Likely the cable will retrieve some hair.

Right. I admit to being delinquent on routine unclogging. My bad.