Milwaukee Tool has a new manual drain auger, 48-22-5760, designed for use with sinks, bathtubs, and showers.
A few days after my review sample arrived, I noticed our shower drain had started to slow down, giving me a good opportunity to test out the auger.
I tested the Milwaukee drain auger on a shower drain, and also a bathtub, which was also due for a good clean-out.
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The auger has a standard bulb head and 1/4″ x 25′ coiled cable.
There’s a cable lock at the front, an enclosed drum for better mess containment, a folding crank handle, and also an offset handle.
The different handle grips are useful for different types of drains. The main handle can be used in a vertical orientation, such as when clearing out floor drains.
The horizontal grip can help when clearing out sink drains past the P-trap connection.
I used the standard vertical handle for clearing out the shower drain, and also for feeding the cable down the tub’s overflow drain. The horizontal grip came in handy for clearing the clog in the tub drain.
Milwaukee says the auger can be used in 1/2″ to 2″ pipes.
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Both clogs were fairly close to the traps, and I extended the cable a couple of feet to ensure I didn’t miss anything.
The auger was easy to clean with a cloth. I do like that the drum is enclosed, with the handle folding into the back hole, in case I need to move it to a slop sink for better cleaning. This saved me from having to bring a bucket.
Navigating traps is never completely effortless, but I cleared out the two drains without too much difficulty. Overall, it performed well, and was a little easier to use than others I’ve used in the past.
Compared to less expensive hardware store drum augers, this one has the secondary handle, an enclosed drum with large access hole for rinsing if need-be, and shorter cable lock.
Price: $40
Thank you to Milwaukee for providing the review sample.
Upgrade Option
Milwaukee also has a TrapSnake drain auger, 49-16-2573, that can be used with the integrated hand crank or their optional M12 powered driver handle.
The TrapSnake model is $50.
As a tool reviewer, I feel that the TrapSnake version gives you more features and versatility for just $10 more.
As a user, I was happy with the simplistic nature of the new all-manual auger. It was easy to use and easy to clean.
The horizontal handle could be convenient for feeding the cable through sink drain lines, and I did appreciate the low-profile sliding cable lock.
$40 for the manual auger doesn’t seem like a no-frills price, but you do get some user-friendly improvements compared to slightly less expensive models.
I think the TrapSnake version could be useful for a modular-type setup, where a plumber, handyman, commercial maintenance pro, or similar might have to clean drains of various kinds on a regular basis.
With the all-manual option, the user experience seems completely tailored towards fully manual use, but you don’t have the option to turn it with the TrapSnake power driver – or a cordless drill or powered screwdriver – in the future.
The TrapSnake model might be more appealing for more regular users.
The M12 Drain Auger
I have used Milwaukee’s M12 cordless drain snake before. It worked extremely well, and a lot faster, especially for feeding the cable.
It has a slightly thicker cable, and it’s quite a bit heavier.
I’d say that M12 – and Milwaukee’s longer-reaching M18 version – are for “drain cleaning is part of the job” types of users.
The manual and TrapSnake versions get the job done too. I feel that the manual auger has a similar quality cable. I haven’t tested the TrapSnake version.
Which Milwaukee Drain Snake Should You Buy?
This is the hard part. I have an older sample of the M12 still available, and recently tested the manual version.
I prefer the manual auger, as the feedback of feeding the cable helps make up for my lack of experience.
I passed along another M12 sample to a local plumber, and they LOVED it, with nothing but good things to say.
The TrapSnake might still be worth the $10 upgrade over the new manual drain snake. Even if you don’t anticipate getting the M12 powered driver, it has a different Cable Drive advancement mechanism that might allow for easier feeding.
Locking and locking the cable on the manual snake was easier than with other models, but I had to toggle it back and forth a bunch of times to navigate past bends. The TrapSnake feature seems more convenient, even if used manually.
I am very happy so far with Milwaukee’s new manual auger, and I definitely prefer it to other manual models I’ve seen or tested in the past. When spending $10 more for the TrapSnake model, you lose some features but gain others, include the ability to add an optional powered driver.
If time is money and you’ve lost track of how many drains you’ve cleared out so far this year, you’ll likely be better suited with the M12 version.
I’m Not Done Testing
While I’m happy with the manual drain snake, I’m not sure I can recommend it without qualifications.
I’m going to get my hands on the TrapSnake version as well, to see whether one has benefits over the other in certain scenarios.
I’ll be building a test drain pipe for this. I have ideas on what it’ll look like, but am definitely open to input on its design!
fred
A good quality manual toilet auger should be in every homeowner’s kit.
Here’s the Milwaukee version:
https://www.ohiopowertool.com/milwaukee-tools-48-22-5765
But we used mostly ones from General Wire Spring – in both 3 (#3FL) and 6-foot (#6FL) lengths. The old 3FL used to cost about what they do today – but the outer tube used to be brass – now its galvanized steel.
https://www.amazon.com/General-Pipe-Cleaners-I-3FL-Professional/dp/B01BIW8JZQ/
Stuart
That Milwaukee just came out, joining another TrapSnake model.
I think a good plunger should suffice for most people. A toilet auger is in between “the plunger isn’t working” and “we need a plumber!”
fred
I’d hear stories over the years about what was found in drain lines. Kids seem particularly inventive about what they might try to flush. Some of it might seem logical to them (toy boats, rubber duckies etc.) But even adults are culpable – and we’d be called out to remove oranges, half grapefruits, diapers, feminine hygiene products, pill bottles etc. Sometimes no anger (hand or powered) would work, and we’d have to pull the commode.
Stuart
The bathroom sink was slow-draining lately. I removed and cleaned the stopper, and it didn’t help.
Took the trap off. Found two plastic slip joint washer rings jammed inside.
fred
Unless you’re the culprit – this sounds like a “plumber” , “builder” or prior homeowner was the culprit. We worked for some commercial and industrial customers – and sometimes found random objects inside piping systems, control valves etc. that were likely included during the manufacturing and/or assembly process. I know that not every piping system is part of a mission-critical undertaking – but I’d think about the FOD program that we had in our fabrication business to prevent such occurrences and marvel about how some manufacturers could be so negligent and still stay in business.
Stuart
The sink fixture was installed ~8 years ago, and I’m guessing the plumber or their helper took the trap and new rings, not bothering to look inside.
fred
Too bad it wasn’t apparent soon after their work such that you could call them back in to fix it. Mistakes happen – but we strove for zero callbacks – trying to inculcate a sense of pride in workmanship across all our businesses. Sometimes it was a struggle.
Dominic S
If you have young kids in the house DO NOT use a toilet auger unless you want to turn an inconvenience into a much more painful and potentially expensive problem.
If you can’t plunge it, pull the toilet and find out what’s in there.
Between my 3 kids I’ve pulled plenty of toys, kitchen items, etc. out of the bend of the toilet that I would not want going into my main drain which unfortunately goes in/under my basement slab.
fred
Pulling the commode is always the most positive way for finding out what might be stuck in the S-bend and avoiding just pushing it further along.
Plungers – also called force-cups can sometimes break a clog loose – but the pressure that you apply may just push the clog allowing it to get stuck further along in the piping system (perhaps at another bend or the house trap.)
With a closet auger if the screw-end of the auger can grab onto the plug or object – you can sometimes pull up on the auger rod and use it sort of like a slide hammer to pull the offending item back into the bowl. The rotating action of the auger can also break up some clogs into smaller pieces. That probably won’t work on plastic dinosaurs or snakes that have been flushed down by a 3-year-old.
Kingsley
Why does the USA still use the siphon based flushing toilet? The 4″ flush with air inlet based UK toilet rarely needs unblocking and a toilet brush normally sorts it.
I’ve stayed in far too many places in the USA where I’ve had to plunge the toilet.
fred
Perhaps it’s just past history and precedence. Modern American toilets started out having higher standing water levels, siphon flush with rim wash water. That style was supposedly more hygienic than some others – as it was meant to keep bodily wastes fully submerged while you were “going” and use water to do some scouring of the bowl when you flushed. Solid waste dropping into a somewhat deeper pool of water was also meant to reduce splashing of waste products up onto the user. Water conservation was, for many years, just an afterthought. Today the US Department of Energy sets standards for WC water use and performance – sometimes to the chagrin of the end user. Even under the less restrictive water use standards in effect when I sold-up and retired – we had many customers complain about modern toilet performance (or lack thereof) compared to older models. If Google has not failed me here is a link to the current standard:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/water-closets-flush-toilets
Adam
It also varies from state to state. When I worked in plumbing distribution, we stocked both 1.28GPF for California customers and 1.6GPF for everyone else.
Performance is definitely not great with the more water-efficient models, and having to flush twice negates the efficiency benefit.
fred
We may ultimately end up adopting the 2-button (liquids/solids) style that you see elsewhere in the world. Or we could all adopt the saying: “if it’s yellow let it mellow – if it’s brown then flush it down.”
Champs
This might be a case of having too much of a good thing, knowing that all my below grade plumbing is cast iron.
fred
Cast Iron still has some advantages in terms of longevity, sound-dampening and fire resistance. Until a few years ago – some municipalities still required cast iron for drain lines and vent stacks in multi-family structures,
Across our tri-state area plumbing business we’d encounter all sorts of piping both inside and outside the house. Older cast iron (bell and spigot) lines sometimes failed at their lead-caulked joints. Outside underground failures of cast-iron lines with tree root intrusion were sometimes the reason we’d be called out. This was probably less common than for customers who had Orangeburg or clay sewer lines. Cast-iron was also more tolerant to failure from subsidence issues – like when crossing over old cesspools and other drain lines that were subject to leaking. For new higher-end construction we’d still have architects or homeowners specify cast iron for drain lines and vent stacks for noise mitigation. Mercifully no-hub installations eliminate those old time-consuming lead joints that were what I cut my teeth on as a lad.
CA
The only cast I’ve ever seen that wasn’t fully blocked when tearing out and re-installing PVC was 4″. I’m talking the 1950s and 60s stuff that had to be lead sealed.
fred
Part of our plumbing business was on residential and commercial structures in New York City. Their building code (paragraph 701.9) has restrictions on the use of PVC and other plastics limiting their use to residential buildings of under 6 stories.
Joe E.
I had no idea these existed for the DIY homeowner. We recently purchased a 50’s home that had been recently remodeled with upgraded/relocated plumbing. I found that some of the drains in the house were slow and paid a plumber come out and clean them. A few hundreds bucks later, I have fast flowing drains… but I’d rather do it myself. Thanks for sharing this!
James
You did the right thing. Once in a while is ok, but better to leave whole home stuff for the guys who do it every day. I’m moderately experienced and have the M12 snake (excellent!!) but a month ago spent an entire Saturday cleaning a 3” drain in a 110 year old apartment building we own. I was successful in the end but at one point had the snake snagged in there for about 2 hours plus I overflowed the clean out while “testing” and had to mop the basement floor.
Shitty job. Pretty sure I call a plumber next time…
Stuart
Augers like these are great for clearing short distance blockages.
If a single clog is blocking or slowing down multiple drains, or there are a combination of problems, that’s where it might be better to pay for an experienced plumber.
The M12 might be at its limit with a 3” drain pipe. A thicker and stiffer cable might work better.
James
💯 it was not the right tool for a 3” pipe. I learned a lot more about snake options that evening on the couch. There are some beasts but they’re super expensive and really only for the pros.
Nathan
So does the trapsnake need a driver to run and what is it?
I like the manual but I’ve used drill mounted ones and they work ok. I don’t own one though and often think of one
Stuart
The TrapSnake drain auger can be used manually – similar to the one I tested for review – but also has a hex recess at the center of the rear drum. That’s where the TrapSnake driver goes. It’s like a large cordless screwdriver specially designed for Milwaukees power-optional augers.
Nathan
So it could be driven by some other hex drive. Like maybe it takes like an 8mm or such. Interesting
Dave
I bought the 49-16-2573 trap snake so I can use with the powered m12 unit, which I owned with the urinal snake setup. I also thought that the interchangeable cable would be a nice added feature for being more versatile.. The one I had bought, had leaked in the split case. I opened up to inspect the gasket seal, but it still leaked. The ergonomics of the fore grip bothered my wrist after the first use. I might have had an isolated case, but I returned it for the ridgid spinner with the vertical pistol grip. These have a solid case and fully enclosed cable storage so there’s no risk of leakage.
TomD
If you’re dedicated and thorough the manual augers work great.
But just like manual brushing – if you’re NOT dedicated I highly recommend the power version so that you aren’t tempted to the “bare minimum”.
fred
I heard stories of call outs for homeowners who had use all sorts of snakes (from the home center or homemade) that had not worked for them – or worse yet had gotten stuck. I would suppose that the longer the snake is the more likelihood that a snake might get caught on the obstruction and/or piping bends and then be difficult to push through the clog or even pull back and out of the pipe. Without power feed there is this risk – but even some powered snakes might have a problem too for difficult clogs or tortuous lines. Our work with restaurants often had us using steam/hot-water jetting as an adjunct to rotary snaking to clear large grease plugs. With underground drain lines snaking can still not clear a clog caused by a pipe collapse – and homeowner-class rotary snakes can’t effectively cut through tree roots. The invention of camera snakes was a big help to pinpoint problems in this area.
TomD
Yeah one of the obstructions we had to deal with was “roots holding back toilet paper a foot long” which you CAN clear with a snake if you run it long enough.
Hydrojet does easier, however.
TonyT
In a previous place, we had consistent problems with tree roots clogging the sewer – I ended up by having to snake it out about every two months (still much cheaper than paying a plumber or having the sewer line redone).
I started with the Ryboi 18v drain auger (25′ snake 1/4″ diameter), which actually did the job for years, even though it was totally not meant for it. Then I switched to the Milwaukee M18 drain auger, which was much better: it came with a 35′ 1/4″ fixed bulb head snake, and I added a 25′ 3/8″ snake with an attachment for heads and a set of Ridgid cutting head in different styles, which really helped.
I’m a big fan of powered augers; besides being much faster than manual, it’s also much easier to spin the cutters at a given location.
fred
Knock on wood – but I have not had a blockage in the house to street line since we went from cesspools to town sewer – about 30 years ago. One neighbor was not as lucky and used his influence (me) for a Sunday cleanout. No home-center in-stock machine would have worked – as the clog was something like 80 to 90 feet from the foundation wall. Ultimately, after repeated instances he had to have his line replaced. I’ve not heard from the latest homeowner how the line is faring – but it has the propensity for future problems because of the number of nearby trees. It’s always a good idea when installing or replacing a sewer line from the house to street to try to minimize the number of joints (eg. use 20-foot lengths if possible), compact the soil below the pipe to provide good support, and backfill carefully so as not to damage the pipe. The old-timer’s trick of burying bags of rock salt round the joints might also work but I don’t know if there is any hard evidence of its value.
eddiesky
First, NO SUCH THING as FLUSHABLE Wipes! Ladies, cut your hair shorter. Men, eat more fruit! That is all!
Had the poop smith out, once. ONCE. And that was because I bought a home that sat empty for months. Didn’t know tree roots like pipes that are dry. But once water is running, they don’t grow much inside. Says the Poopsmith. Gave me a container of RootKill to flush several times. That was 8 years ago. Also, replace all bath fixtures and the Toilets are power-flush models. Again, no problems. Poopsmith back then, found roots and nappies. Teach this lesson: no such thing as flushable wipes. And never dump oils or grease into a sink. Use flour and make a paste to scrap into trash bin.
blocky
Tyfys
Nathan
Lol
Dumps grease down the garbage disposal with egg shells and plate scrapings and ? I stop sort of bones. Been here 7 years previous house 15. Never had to call out a “poopsmith”. Interesting term.
I follow grease with dish soap and warm water. Meh. Just like how your dishywashy does it.
But yes long hair clots and feminine products with half a roll of TP can be an issue
DRT42
It depends on how the drain pipes are run but eggshells can be a real problem. I had a total blockage of the kitchen sink drain in previous house. Problem turned out to be pieces of eggshells that had gone through the disposal and only made it a few feet into an almost horizontal section. They built up over maybe 10 years and finally totally blocked the pipe. I guess with modern faucets, there isn’t enough volume of water flowing to keep the chips moving.
fred
An “almost horizontal section” – like any smaller drain line should have a downward slope of 1/4 inch per foot- unless otherwise specified by code. Too little slope and stuff accumulates in the drain. Too much slope and the water runs out too fast and solids can also accumulate but maybe further along. On large drain lines (8 inch or larger) you may get away with 1/16 inch per foot. Three-to-6-inch lines may also be spec’d with 1/8 inch per foot slope.