Is it normal for a plumber to charge $1200 for a grease clog?

That $1,200 quote sounds like they are pricing you for **hydro-jetting**, which is basially using a high-pressure water laser to scour the inside of the lines. For a standard kitchen drain, that’s on the high side, but if the grease has truly petrified over forty years, a regular snake isn't going to do much besides poke a tiny hole that closes back up immediately. You should definately call a dedicated drain cleaning service—not just a general plumber—to get a second look.

The problem with grease in older pipes is that it turns into something almost like candle wax or concrete. When your husband used a basic snake, it probly just went thru the softest part and didn't actualy clear the diameter of the pipe. If you're looking to DIY this one last time, go to a rental shop and ask for a **power auger** with a grease-cutting head. It’s a motorized cable that’s much stiffer and can actually scrape the walls of the pipe.

But honestly, if the pipes are accessible in a crawlspace or basement, it might be cheaper and more effective to just cut out the affected section of PVC and replace it. You can buy the pipe and some Fernco couplings for less than fifty dollars. It’s a messy job, but it’s a lot more permanent than trying to dissolve forty years of bacon grease with chemicals.

If you do go the chemical route, skip the grocery store stuff. Look for a proffesional-grade **sodium hydroxide** cleaner. You have to be incredibly careful with your eyes and skin, and you definitely shouldn't use it if you've allready dumped other chemicals down there recently. Pour it in, let it sit, and follow it with several gallons of boiling water. Sometimes that heat is the only thing that will soften the buildup enugh to let it move.

I've seen this movie before. Back in the 70s, we didn't have fancy hydro-jets, we had a garden hose and a 'Drain King' bladder. Cost ten bucks at the local hardware shop and it'd swell up in the pipe to blast that sludge loose with pure water pressure. If your pipes are the old galvanized stuff, that grease isn't just sitting there, it's bonded to the rust. I'd give the bladder a shot before handing over a mortgage payment. Just keep a close eye on the floor drain when you turn the water on, or you'll have a swamp in the basement.

I dealt with the exact same thing in my '84 build. I skipped the plumber and rented a 50-foot power snake, but the secret for me was keeping the hot water running the entire time I was working the cable. If you snake it dry, that old grease just sticks to the cable and makes a huge mess.

I had to run it through about four times until the cable came back relatively clean. It cost me $60 for the rental and a Saturday afternoon, but it's been clear for three years now. Just wear old clothes because that black sludge smells like death.

You hit the nail on the head with the power snake suggestion. I'll add one small thing: if you go that route, make sure you get the side-cutter blades for the end of the cable. A regular boring head just slides right thru the grease without acutally clearing the diameter. I found out the hard way that if you don't scrape the walls, the grease just fills back in within a month. It’s a gross job, but those specific blades make the difference between a temporary fix and actually getting your pipe back to its original size.

I'd skip the caustic stuff and grab a canister of Bio-Clean. It's a professional-strength enzyme cleaner that actually digests the organic buildup rather than just burning a hole through it. I used it in my old 80s ranch when the kitchen sink started backing up and it's been clear for three years now.

You just mix the powder with some warm water and let it sit in the pipes overnight so the bacteria can feed on the grease. It’s way cheaper than a $1,200 plumbing bill and it's safe for older pipes that might be thinning out.