I never never never recommend any acid or alkali based drain cleaners. I always recommend using a snake. The reason is that acids can weaken rubber washers on drain connections causing leaks. Strong acids can eat pipes. Alkalis (such as Drano) are extremely dangerous if they "flash back" at you, and they also tend to cake at the bottom of the trap, sometimes forming a cement-like plug.
Snakes not only are great for clearing organic blockages, but they can also find things that have gotten stuck such as toothbrushes, and other items.
"Strong acids can eat pipes." This statement is true....(about some pipes) but acid drain cleaners are not merely strong acids.
Saint Joseph's Hospital (Orange, CA) used that acid based drain cleaner (Mule Kick) for years with no ill effects.
Chemical drain cleaners are generally safe for drain plumbing materials. "No-Hub" rubber connectors can easily withstand the minimal exposure to any kind of drain cleaners they reasonably encounter. Check out the Fernco website for chemical resistance.
Just as drain cleaners that are improperly used, an inexperienced snake operator can damage drain plumbing just as well.
can help him with a clogged/slow drain issue. I haven't seen it yet, but s= o far, he seems to be saying that it is mostly a bathtub (and maybe a sink = in the same bathroom) that has a slow drain problem. I think he said he tri= ed to unclog it before but had some problems with it, and he wants to know = if by looking at it if I could figure out how to correct the problem. Of co= urse, we'll be doing the routine stuff -- using a plunger, a snake, one of = those plastic hair-cleaning gadgets, maybe Liquid Plumber, etc. But, I was = wondering if anyone has ever tried using acid -- probably not something too= strong, but maybe diluted acid or whatever. I know about keeping acid off = of porcelain, and I know about adding acid-to-water and not water-to-acid f= rom chemistry classes and past experience. And, since it is someone else's = house, I don't want to mess up their drain lines with too much or too stron= g of acid. Any thoughts or experiences on the acid idea and any specific su= ggestions would be appreciated. Again, I am going there in a couple of hour= s, but I'll check here beforehand just in case anyone gets to respond befor= e then. Also, I may just pass on the whole acid idea unless someone here ha= s any suggestions that we may want to try.
I agree wiht the poster about using a snake. I noticed some of the chemica= l drain cleaners now also come with a short plastic snake. I think that pr= obably does more for the clog than the chemicals. On a system without age = related or chronic problems clogs are almost always at or near the fixture = drain. The pipes just get bigger as you move further away from the fixture= .
Here is my personal theory: in a bathroom drain, it isn't likely kitchen grease. For kitchen grease, a pot of boiling water with some added Dawn poured slowly into the drain. If kitchen slime, hot water followed by bleach; let sit. In bathroom, both drains at one time suggest downline problem or problem with vent. If it is neither of those, it is likely hair. Damn hard to dissolve hair globs, even with acid. Snake (or coat hanger with a hook end) to try to clear hair globs. If that doesn't work, try longer snake. If that doesn't work, have a pro check out the sewer line.
At one house of mine, I called the plumber when tub drain got too slow. He snaked it, pulled out a smallish clump of hair. He also identified the hair as belonging to two different people, which was correct :o) At another house, the shower drain got very slow very suddenly. I took of the drain cover, reched in with my trusty coat hanger and the coat hanger went straight down into some mush. Scared me, but I probed a little more and pulled out the nastiest, biggest clump of hair imagineable. Yuck!!
Have had drains slow badly after feeding large helping of potato peels through disposal; bad idea. At condo, two toilets backed up withing minutes of each other; obviously, a problem downline. Turned out the line to the sewer was half rusted away along it's bottom.
Hi y’all my brother poured sulfuric acid down the drain the house smells like crap and I woke up this morning and the walls are stained ? Is this normal
Most likely caused an exothermic reaction which produced and released gases that stuck to the walls. The fact you can smell it confirms the release of the gases.
That's correct. Concentrated sulfuric acid has a very high heat of dilution and exothermic reaction might have spewed gasses out of the drain if too much was dumped in.
You are probably right. It would take a very exothermic reaction and spewing out junk.
I responded in part because I worked in the lab and used sulfuric acid extensively. Never saw any discolored walls but saw a lot of clothing destroyed by it.
Place where I used to work had a plumber employed there and they provided houses for some of the staff. His approach to blocked drains was to pour a full winchester of conc nitric acid down the drain.
That was in the days of earthenware sewer pipes tho. Not a great approach with modern plastic sewer pipes.
replying to TomR, David wrote: Rooto Professional is a 93% sulfuric acid says Rooto website:
ROOTO PROFESSIONAL DRAIN OPENER 16, 32, 64 & 128 OZ - 93% VIRGIN SULFURIC ACID PVC of the pipes does get affected by sulfuric acid, which is perhaps the main reason you will not see the word "safe" used by this manufacturer or by other companies making similar products. Over time PVC pipe exposed to sulfuric acid will become brittle, develop cracks and eventually fail. But it all depends on the length of exposure time. I have seen results of studies of the effects of sulfuric acid on various pipe plastics, including PVC, based on 97% sulfuric acid. The first signs of trouble start to appear way past the 100 hours mark (more like 300-500hrs).
Ay Caramba! Who puts 93% sulfuric down any drains? But I suppose it cleans em out as opposed to all the ones I tried that did nothing. I couldn't believe it was 93%, but googling it is and I also came across reports of people being severely injured, eg some guy bought it at a grocery store, it fell off the bottom of the cart, broke open and splashed on his 5 year old's leg causing a sever injury. I'd say selling this stuff in the kind of stores that the average Joe goes to is irresponsible. People are used to things like this being like bleach or typical strength drain cleaner, 93% sulfuric is some really nasty stuff.
The pipes in our basement are leaking when the toilet on the first floor is flushed. Should we just disconnect the pipes and unclog or replace? Does this mean we have clogging further down our pipes outside? There Is a large tree in our neighbors yard. We have had issues with roots a few months back. I see all of the warnings against liquid acid. Would you recommend the crystals instead applied directly to our basement drain?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.