Why Your Tub Won't Drain Right - The Drum Trap Problem

If your bathtub drains slowly - or clogs over and over no matter what you do - there's a good chance the problem isn't hair or soap scum. It might be something buried deeper in your plumbing that most homeowners have never even heard of: a drum trap.

Drum traps were common in older homes. They're large, cylindrical traps that sit inline with the drain line, and back in the day they were considered standard. The problem is they trap debris, are nearly impossible to clean properly, and don't allow for the kind of water flow that modern plumbing demands. They're also now considered outdated and are no longer up to code - meaning they're illegal in new construction and remodels for good reason.

What you're seeing here is exactly that situation. Old, corroded pipe fittings with a drum trap still in place - the kind of setup that quietly causes headaches for years. When plumbing like this gets exposed, whether during a renovation or a repair call, it's the right time to address it instead of just patching around it.

Swapping a drum trap out for a modern p-trap is a straightforward upgrade that makes a real difference. P-traps are self-cleaning by design - water flows through them continuously, which means less buildup and fewer clogs over time. It's the kind of fix that stops the cycle of repeat service calls and snake jobs that never seem to fully solve the problem.

This is exactly the type of work we handle as part of our remodeling and repiping services. If you've got an older home and the drains have always been a nuisance, the plumbing behind the walls - or under the floor - might be telling you something worth listening to.