What will dissolve hair, but not hurt pipes?

[Dave]

Hey people, got this problem with the tub drain, and am wodering what I can use on it. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks much

Dave

[RobertMacy]

plastic pipes? you can use extreme lye, or pure bleach. metal pipes? use a router.

[Frank]

Commercial cleaners, acid or caustic will not hurt pipes. My tub did get so bad once that I had to use router which would not work for me and I got a plumber. I should have looked on line for instructions on tub as drains are not what one might suspect.

[Fred McKenzie]

Dave-

I tried chemical drain cleaners with limited success. Then I found a Peerless "Zip-It" drain cleaner that worked very well. I use it about once a year. In just a few minutes you are done. There is no waiting for chemicals to dissolve anything!

Take a look at and . There may be others.

Fred

[Mayayana]

| Hey people, got this problem with the tub drain, and am wodering what I can | use on it. Any help is appreciated. |

Snake it, or if the hair is caught in the drain plug you might be able to get it with a wire or coat hanger. Using strong chemicals is only a solution on TV.

[Dan Espen]

Tub drains are hard to snake, but if you are persistent...

I lived with a tub drain that was slow for years. Tried all the pour in cleaners and never got anywhere. After many fruitless attempts, I finally got a snake to turn the various corners and got some of the junk out. You go in through the overflow opening.

When we finally had the bathroom remodeled, I had as much of the galvanized replaced with PVC as I could. The galvanized pipe was just filled with crud, not much hair at all. I think that's why the snake was more effective, it was knocking some of the crud out of the pipe.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Second the Zip-It recommendation. They work very well and are very inexpensive. Everybody should keep a couple of these on hand for quick drain maintenance.

[trader_4]

IDK about the zip it, no experience there. But I agree with the part about chemical drain cleaners not working. I've used a variety of them over the years and I can't think of a single case where they solved the problem. Theoretically, Draino or similar would probably eat up hair, but in reality, what's in there is a gunk made up of soap, hair, grease, etc and in my experience, the chemical drain cleaners don't work.

[Vic Smith]

Those work good. A lot easier than cleaning the trap and snaking - if it's hair that's causing the problem.

[Dave]

Hey, thank you for all the help, seriously. Ended up pulling out a piece of pipe and going directly into the line behind the tub with a small snake. Found a huge clot of hair, which was apparently the problem, as it did drain once I replaced the afore-mentioned piece of pipe. Was still a little slow though, and I finally remebered I used to use Crystal Draino with good success. While I was at the hardware store getting the pipe I looked at different chemical drain openers, and found one liquid with both sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, which I had never seen before (Liquid Fire). That one claimed to damage porcelin etc and was not for use in toilets. The Crystal Draino just said it contained caustic with stabilizers and dye, and I suspect it is the same combination of Sodium and Potassium hydroxide, as that would be a lot "hotter" than just sodium hydroxide by itself (lye.) Got a can of that and added a couple tablespoons to still a little slow drain and it worked wonders. Have never seen anything take so much water without backing up.

So, I've got it working with a little help from the chemical dept, but it was a crystal product I used rather than any of the pour-in liquids. Never have trusted any of those. Thanks all for the asstance and encouragment. Take it easy...

[RobertMacy]

NOT TRUE!!! Drano ate through ?? number of my j-pipes! under the sinks. until I quit using that @#$#@#$ product.

[CRNG]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 10:03:07 -0500, "Dave" wrote in

Try one of these:

they work well if the clog is near the drain opening; which is probably the case. If it doesn't work, get a roto-rooter type guy to snake it; or try one of these first:

Those chemicals don't work well.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Some work better than others, BUT beware of using highly caustic drain cleaners with brass plumbing fixtures: they dissolve the zinc out.

Perce

[clare]

Try Nair, or Neet

[Dave]

Oh wow, what an idea! Thank you!

My best,

Dave

[Velma.Feyes]

replying to clare, Velma.Feyes wrote: Those things never worked on my legs because it is so thick. I will definitely try in the bathroom sink. Can't hurt right? Thanks for the suggestion.