RIDGID Kwik-Spin+ 25 ft. L Plastic Drum Auger Drain Clearing Tools

Excellent product. Well constructed and versatile. You are able to use it manually with the included crank handle or remove the handle and use a cordless drill for more power.

Yep, it happened. I dumped my 2 gallons of salted turkey brine down the kitchen sink and it clogged up. I'm not sure if the heavy salt concentration loosened up some gunk to cause the clog or if it was just "my turn" but it was a pesky bugger. I'm an average homeowner and I'm writing because I see a lot of negative reviews which I think are unfair. It's true the instructions are printed on the back side of the wrapper plastic which is very hard to read but they are also available online along with several videos. RTFM, watch some videos, and don't expect it to be a super-simple process. It might take some give and take and a few tries. Play with it a little before putting it in the pipe so you understand how it works. For example, when pulling the trigger it feeds in very slowly. I successfully cleared a pesky clog that was 8 feet into my kitchen sink drain pipe and behind several 90 degree turns in my 1 1/2 PVC pipe. I pushed manually until I hit resistance and then pulled the trigger and spun the wheel and was easily past the corners where I pushed manually again. I'm a rookie at this and I thought it would be as simple as just snaking around the corners and pushing the clog out or breaking the clog up. What I think happened several times is that the tip worked past the clog, maybe on the side of the pipe, because a few times I extended to the full 25 feet and still found the pipe to be clogged after I removed the snake. At 25 feet from my sink I am into my large 4" main sewer line in the house (I can see in the crawlspace) and I know that wasn't clogged because the only thing not draining was the kitchen sink). I found success after "listening" closely to the resistance provided by the snake and rotating a lot both forward and backward when I felt the clog. Took me 5-6 times in and fully out to clear the clog. My sink drain is of a design where it is impossible for me to pass the head of this device through the drain. I had to go under the sink and take apart some of the PVC piping to get it in. This made the job a bit harder. I did see others at the store with smaller head but to be fair, I think the bigger head would be better at clearing clogs. One improvement I could suggest is to put some kind of banding or color coding on the snake so that you can see the progress. I had some success making a mark with a Sharpie. Even better if they could put banding on to indicate many feet or meters have been input to the pipe. It seems like a good build, is relatively easy to use, and is perfect, I'd say, for any homeowner. Just note this is not intended for toilets, I think mainly because it could scratch them but there may be other reasons so be careful how you use. To me the trigger and the auto-feed was a critical element to make it very easy to get around 90 degree turns in the pipe. Just make sure to get the tool close to the point where you have entered the pipe with little/no slack, pull the trigger, and turn the wheel. With practice you can feel it go around the corner. Good luck