Okay, so I gotta share what I did this weekend. That downstairs bathroom sink drain, man, it’s been slow for ages. Tried the usual stuff – boiling water, baking soda and vinegar, even one of those plastic snake things. Nothing really fixed it for good. It'd work for a week, maybe two, then back to gurgling slow again. Super annoying.

I remembered I had that pressure washer sitting in the garage, mostly used for cleaning the driveway grime. Did a quick search and found these pipe cleaner hose attachments for pressure washers. Looked interesting. Basically a long, thin hose with a special nozzle on the end. Some jets blast forward, others blast backward to pull the hose down the pipe. Seemed clever, maybe?

Getting Ready

Ordered one online, wasn't too expensive, definitely cheaper than calling out a plumber, which I was this close to doing. When it arrived, it felt pretty solid. Just a flexible hose, maybe 50 feet long, with the metal nozzle bit on one end and the connector for my pressure washer gun on the other.

First thing, I went down to the bathroom. Put a bucket under the P-trap, you know, that U-shaped pipe under the sink. Loosened the nuts – always a bit fiddly – and pulled it off. Yeah, bit of smelly water came out, normal stuff. This gave me direct access to the pipe going into the wall. That's where the real blockage usually is.

Important step here: I put down a bunch of old towels. Everywhere. I had a feeling this might get messy, and boy was I right later on.

Doing the Actual Job

Hooked the pipe cleaner hose to my pressure washer gun. Easy peasy, just like changing any other nozzle. Then, the slightly awkward part: feeding the hose into the wall pipe. Started pushing it in gently. It went in a fair way pretty easily, maybe ten feet?

Then I dragged the pressure washer closer to the bathroom door (kept the main unit outside, obviously, just ran the hose). Took a deep breath. Put on safety glasses – definitely wear glasses!

Okay, squeezed the trigger. The hose jumped a bit, and I could hear the water blasting inside the pipe. The backward-facing jets really do work, you can feel the hose wanting to pull itself deeper into the pipe. It's a weird feeling. I started feeding it in further, slowly working it back and forth when I felt resistance.

• Push it in a bit.
• Pull it back a bit.
• Let the water jets do the work.
• Repeat.

I probably worked it back and forth along maybe 20 feet of pipe? Hard to tell exactly. At one point, I felt it push through something properly solid. The sound changed a little. Kept going for another few minutes just to be sure.

The Mess and The Result

Alright, time to pull it out. This is where those towels were lifesavers. As I pulled the hose back, a load of disgusting, black, greasy gunk came with it. Seriously gross stuff. Hair, soap scum, who knows what else. It splattered a bit. Cleanup wasn't fun, but hey, better out than in, right?

After pulling the hose all the way out, I wiped everything down. Put the P-trap back together under the sink. Then, the moment of truth. Turned on the faucet, full blast. Water went down instantly. No gurgling, no pooling, just straight down. Success!

So, Was It Worth It?

Yeah, I'd say so. For a stubborn clog that chemicals and snakes couldn't fix, this thing did the trick. It takes a bit of setup, you gotta be prepared for a mess, and you obviously need a pressure washer already. But it definitely worked for me. Felt pretty good doing it myself and saving that plumber fee. It’s a tool I probably won't use often, but next time a drain gets really bad, I know I've got this thing ready to go.