Tips on Cleaning Clogged Drains

Tips on Cleaning Clogged Drains

Tips on Cleaning Clogged Drains

Drain cleaning is not something you would consider until water refuses to go down the drain in your kitchen sink or bathtub. Drain blockage is a problem that could eventually affect your entire plumbing system and usually happens due to mistreatment of the system. When faced with a clogged drain, people rely on plungers and chemical drain cleaners to clean the drain. However, this will not always solve your drain problems. Here are a few tips for unclogging your clogged drain:

Identifying the problem

Drains might be clogged due to various reasons. In kitchens, usually grease and oil causes clogged drains. When the grease flows down the drain, it cools down and hardens against the sides of the pipes. Other materials get caught on this and further clog the drain. In bathrooms, the culprit is hair and soap foam. Soap foam contains a lot of oil and this traps hair and other materials to create a large clog.

Clearing the clog

Depending on the extent of the clog, you can either clear it yourself or you can call a plumber. Using a plunger is the most common way to clear a drain. In case of large clogs, a plunger would not help and you would have to resort to natural products or chemicals to clear the clog.

Baking soda with either boiling water or vinegar cause a chemical reaction that is effective in unclogging drains. Bacteria based enzymes are also effective in drain cleaning. The bacteria break down and eat the organic matter that is causing the clog. These natural products are easily available at stores. You also have the option of using chemicals solvents for cleaning drains. But remember that they are very strong and can sometime cause damage to the pipes.

Calling plumbing experts

If you cannot unclog a drain with these methods it is better to call a plumber. Plumbers use various modern techniques to clear drains. Visual inspections using digital images are being employed more and more. These are used to assess the severity of clogs. Once the situation is assessed, effective solutions can be implemented.

High pressure water jetting is also an effective way to unclog drains. Continuous jets of water are blasted into the drain that will clear deposits stuck to the sides of the pipe. Roto-rooting is another technique used by professionals. It consists of a long chocked pipe with a sharp blade that cuts any obstructing materials in its path. Once these materials are cut, water is poured into the drain to flush out the remains.

Another way of detecting pipe blockage is using acid washes and smoke tests. If the odor emitted during a smoke test is different from the standard odor, it is a sign of blockage due to toxic substances. Carrying out an acid wash is the most practical method to get rid of toxic substances.

It is always better to prevent drain blockage than worrying about it afterwards. Regular drain cleaning may seem to be a hassle but it will save you a lot of trouble.

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