Do any of the liquid/crystal drain cleaners live up to their advertising hype for periodic drain maintenance?
I live in a 1962 house with a sometimes cranky kitchen sink drain. It's more of an annoyance than a real problem. I remember "Once in every week; Draino in every drain".
Are any of them worth the money or is it just propoganda?
Just used a store brand one in my basement washtub, it worked great but I dont use themn unless things get sluggish, in a kitchen drain a big pan of boiling water usually clears it, ciosts little too
I would never use then a periodic maintenance.
From English dictionary Japanese set unit translate wrongly programmed?
Why not try it out and see? Try dumping a gallon of boiling water down the sink to clear it out. I do that every time I make spaghetti, and this keeps my kitchen drain clear.
Couple that with the caustics of dishwashing detergent and you will have a pretty clean drain.
If you have a mechanical problem, such as long runs without enough pitch, spouses that dump large amounts of bacon fat in the drain, it may take a bit more to keep them free flowing.
I've never had any luck with them, I always end up taking the pipes apart and using a snake. You might also try a plunger - seal the other side of the sink (with a wet towel held in place by someone else) and plunge the daylights out of the other.
I called a plumber once after having dumped gobs of drano down a bathtub drain. He came out and plunged the thing and had it fixed in a few minutes. Showed me how to take the batchtub/shower switch thing off and plug that hole up to improve the effectiveness of the plunging. $50 lesson.
What odd quirk of fate caused snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com to generate the following ::
I've never had luck with plunging. I could never get a good seal.
bonnie
There is nothing that is superior to mechanically clearing the drain. Spend $20 on a snake.
Try a wet/dry shopvac.
Pour one cup of baking soda mixed with 3 cups of boiling water down the drain. My house is the same age as yours, and ALL of our drains seem to be cranky at one time or another, and the baking soda has always worked for us. (Only when it's slow - not when it's completely blocked!) I have used it in 2 different bathroom sinks, the bathtub, and the kitchen sink. If it's really slow, it might take doing it a few times to get it going (I usually do 3 times a day until it starts getting better).
I read that if you do this periodically, it keeps them running smoothly, too!
~Shelly
Goedjn wrote:
I doubt the baking soda does much, its the hot water
I don't think anyone's asked, but what material are your drain pipes?
snipped-for-privacy@vcoms.net wrote:
As others have mentioned, I prefer to remove the trap and try to snake out the clog, but I had a very slow bathroom sink a few years ago that I couldn't clear by snake or plunger, so finally I decided to try "liquid Plumber foaming pipe snake," basically a fancy-marketed drain cleaner.
It said it might take two applications, so I poured it in in the A.M. took the family out for the day, returned in the evening, drain was still slow. Second application cleared it pretty well until about 8-9 months later.
Again two applications of the foaming pipe snake and the drain ran clear. That was about four-five years ago.
If you can't or won't try snaking or plunger, you really have nothing to lose as long as you follow directions.
As an aside, I have always been pretty leery of chemical drain openers, just because I remember my mom pouring a big can of Red Devil Lye down the kitchen sink when I was a kid. It opened the pipe right up -- literally -- it burnt a hole in the side of the pipe under the sink....
Use a combination of baking soda and white vinegar. Safe for the enviroment and will not damage your pipes regardless of make and age.
I found this at
Just look under the tips section. Don't forget pour hot water in after to rinse. You can do this as often as needed.
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