Cleaning sink drain? ? ?

A friend tells me that there is a cleaning solution available which stands overnight in sink drains to clear away grease build-up.

He also said that he had learned through some "tip sheet" that carbonated soft drinks accomplish the same thing and are cheaper when you get them on sale.

Is this correct?

Reply to
Ray
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I've used boiling water, with Dawn dish detergent added after heating it, and poured slowly into the drain. This was not a totally clogged drain.

Reply to
Norminn

My experience has always been that none of the drain cleaners, whether liquid or dry type, have been effective at clearing blocked drains. At most, they made it a little better and it was soon back to where it was again. Only a snake has worked for me.

As for soft drinks working, forget about it. Most of the drain cleaners are based on alkalines, not acids. But whether acid or base, the cleaners are orders of magnitude more powerful than a soft drink like soda.

Reply to
trader4

Like most all generalities/home remedies "yes and no"

There are any number of drain cleaners on the market that are more or less effective depending on just how badly and what a clogged drain may be clogged with. One problem w/ many of the more aggressive cleaners is the conditions of the pipes themselves; particularly if metal. The cleaner can be the final straw that eats through a thin point...

Carbonated drinks are dilute acids so indeed do have some of the same properties. Whether they're strong enough to do any good for any given case depends on the above conditions. Being much less aggressive than the stronger commercial products they are safer in the sense of being unlikely to cause a failure--otoh, being weaker they're less likely to be successful in a hard case or at least not w/o either a very long time to work (which means can't use the sink for anything else for that same long time) or many applications (which tends to wipe out any cost differential)

So, "all depends" :)

Reply to
dpb

As per the other posts......once the drain is completely blocked, liquid cleanser seldom work, mechanical intervention is typically needed.

The overnight stuff is DrainCare enzyme / bacteria powder but you have to to have some flow to distribute the stuff. I use this & highly recommend it as a preventative measure.

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cheers Bob

Reply to
DD_BobK

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Reply to
Oh Wren

From my experience, you are better off talking to the wall !!!!

Reply to
Doug

That's what I need.

The immediate blockage has been dislodged. I want something to prevent future blockage.

Thanks, Ray

As per the other posts......once the drain is completely blocked, liquid cleanser seldom work, mechanical intervention is typically needed.

The overnight stuff is DrainCare enzyme / bacteria powder but you have to to have some flow to distribute the stuff. I use this & highly recommend it as a preventative measure.

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cheers Bob

Reply to
Ray

Don't know about the solution, but about using carbonated beverages...

Back in the student days when one was forced to live in accomodations less than one would put up with today; four of us lived in a rented house [to save money it still took all four of us]. The landlord did not really clean up too well after the previous tenants, so we had one upstairs sink that was so clogged with some type of gunk [could be seen looking down through the overflow] it seemed to drain faster with the plug in than with the plug out.

We tried every process we could think of, hot water, pumping, etc, every chemical we could find, including gasoline and paint thinner - after all we were desparate to get this sink cleaned up for use. Absolutely nothing touched the sludgy, ?? gunk.

In an act of frustration and desparation I poured my bottle of Pepis into the overflow. The reaction was incredible. Foaming, billing out, then suddenly 'flump' like sound as everything just went down the drain. I continued to pour the remaining soda down the overflow to watch foaming completely clean the view. Until voila! the sink was totally brought back to original draining operation - fixed!

Plus, much of the metal was shiney again.

Reply to
Robert Macy

First thing I always do is pour a few pots of boiling water down the = drain. If that doesn't work, I disconnect the drain pipe at the wall = connection, and clean it out with metal coat hander or short snake ($10 = or so at Home Depot). My experience is that drains tend to plug up in = the horizontal runs.

If that doesn't work, call a rooter service - typically $50-100 max to = do a whole small house. Well worth the money. They are pros and carry = insurance.

One comment about Drano.... If you use it, be sure to follow the = directions and don't experiment with it. Too much could make it spew = hot gases back up into the room and if you breathe it or get it on your = skin or eyes, it's big trouble.

And especially don't pour soda into a drain that already has Drano or = other chemicals in it. That's an acid-base reaction and is likely to do = serious damage. I'm a chemist by education and would never do this.

Reply to
Guv Bob

The wall won't withhold sex?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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From my experience, you are better off talking to the wall !!!!

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Sounds like you had a lime / calcium scale problem, if Pepis cleared it. Some drain cleaners have hydrochloric acid, which will have similar effect to Pepis, but some what stronger. Well, the old formula Pepis might have been stronger than now days.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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.

Don't know about the solution, but about using carbonated beverages...

Back in the student days when one was forced to live in accomodations less than one would put up with today; four of us lived in a rented house [to save money it still took all four of us]. The landlord did not really clean up too well after the previous tenants, so we had one upstairs sink that was so clogged with some type of gunk [could be seen looking down through the overflow] it seemed to drain faster with the plug in than with the plug out.

We tried every process we could think of, hot water, pumping, etc, every chemical we could find, including gasoline and paint thinner - after all we were desparate to get this sink cleaned up for use. Absolutely nothing touched the sludgy, ?? gunk.

In an act of frustration and desparation I poured my bottle of Pepis into the overflow. The reaction was incredible. Foaming, billing out, then suddenly 'flump' like sound as everything just went down the drain. I continued to pour the remaining soda down the overflow to watch foaming completely clean the view. Until voila! the sink was totally brought back to original draining operation - fixed!

Plus, much of the metal was shiney again.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Ray... A quick and easy way. Buy a Zip It at Home Depot or Ace Hardware about $2. This is a plastic thing about 2 feet long with saw looking teeth. Very flexible and will bend to go around the pea trap. Fast and drags out hair and crud. Check it out on Google. This saves my taking the trap apart and works in a couple minutes of my time. WW

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Reply to
WW

Not if you make a hole in the wall for the right size and include a few dirty mags just in case the hole isn't enough. I don't recommend this but perhaps only as a last resort.

Reply to
Doug

We're on a private septic system, so we try not to pour chemicals down our drains.

Like you, we simply pull the trap assemblies apart a couple times a year and clean them out. The vast majority of the hair and gunk is within the first foot or so of the drains, so this gets us free flowing pipes again.

My wife actually takes ours apart and cleans them out. She thinks it's "fun". :) Saves me the messy job.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

.

"Pepis"?! ...three times?....yeah, just rub it in. ;)

Reply to
Robert Macy

It was probably the foaming action of the soda, not the acidic reaction that cleared the drain.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Yes, I can be a bit of a jerk, at times. Inherited, from the male line of my family.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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"Pepis"?! ...three times?....yeah, just rub it in. ;)

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I want to second, third, and fourth this recommendation. The Zip-its are dirt cheap so they're disposable if you don't feel like cleaning them after use. The backwards-facing teeth hold onto the crud and gunk while you yank the Zip-it back up through the drain. Pull all the junk off it, then run it through the drain one more time to make sure. Problem solved in less than five minutes and for about two dollars. No chemicals, no snake, no disassembling the plumbing. Whoever invented these deserves a medal.

Reply to
Hell Toupee

Before I'll agree with your "no disassembling the plumbing" claim, I'll have to try it on my pedestal sink.

How long is the tool?

This issue might be the length of the tool vs. the location of the recurring clog.

The pedestal sink has an extension before the trap, then after the trap the drain continues into the wall and then makes a 90 degree turn down the stud bay toward the floor.

The clog typically occurs at the connection for that 90 degree turn. If the zip-it isn't long enough to reach that point, I'll still have to disassemble the drain in order to access the clog that is just inside the wall.

I love the look of the pedestal sink, but working on the drain/trap assembly is a major pain since you can't easily get a wrench on anything inside the pedestal.

Unfortunately, there's wainscoting with it's associated cap and base moulding behind the sink, so opening the wall to see if I can reconfigure the 90 in some manner as to prevent the clog isn't feasible unless I plan to redo the wall.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

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