Drain clearing

[Mike Barnes]

The basin in the bathroom empties more slowly every week, but I'm not sure how to go about freeing it up.

The pipework has a P-trap and a couple of inaccessible bends in the area of the basin, then a two-metre straight horizontal-ish section that emerges on the outside of the house. I've tried disconnecting the pipe outside, and the constriction is definitely above that point.

I've been considering mechanical and chemical methods.

Mechanically I'm thinking of a bendy-spring sort of thing that would go down the plug hole (there's a pop-up waste giving full-diameter access) and around the trap and bends. Alternatively it would easy to poke something up the two-metre horizontal section, but chances are the straight pipe isn't the problem. I don't know exactly what are the best tools to use.

Chemically, we have a septic tank so I'm reluctant to put anything nasty down it. What I'm thinking of is putting a metre of waste pipe vertically upwards on the outside of the house, making an open run of pipe that I can fill with whatever I want, leave for as long as I want, then empty into a wheelie bin or whatever. I'd still have the problem of disposing of it afterwards.

What do people think?

[The Natural Philosopher]

I too have an aerated septic tank and my pipes get lots of flushes of sold NaOH followed by kettles of hot water.

Not caused it to fail to do its job.

After all the piss and other acids from e.g. fruit that goes down it needs neutralising sometimes.

[stuart noble]

Almost certainly you need to clear the trap by dismantling it. If that isn't possible I'd try and modify the setup so that it is possible in future. Maybe it's just shelves that are in the way?

Bendy things work but ideally you need a hook on the end to drag human hair out. Then you run the risk of the hook getting caught on a joint or something. So much easier to take the trap off.

[Martin Brown]

Bleach is the thing you have to avoid.

A caustic based formulation is your best bet and a few hours to act. You could probably chase it with water neutralise it with a carefully chosen amount of citric acid solution immediately afterwards to avoid taxing the septic tank (or hydrochloric if you have it).

Wear eye protection and put something over the sink hole in case it blows back.

If you can break the drain line outside dump into a bucket and add diluted acid to make it neutral again. It becomes pretty harmless once netralised, but will get rather hot during the reaction. Not wise to do it in situ as boiling caustic may be very unpleasant.

[gremlin_95]

When our bathroom drain gets a little slow, we use One shot drain cleaner which is something like 98% sulphuric acid, does the job straight away.

[stuart noble]

What is this modern obsession with chemicals? What's the trap for?

[DerbyBorn]

When you have fixed it make a resolution to only use liquid soaps - and not bar soap. It was quite a revalation to me - but I now find that the shower screens and bath no longer need cleaning because they have a dull scum on them. Bar soap scum and hair - clogs drains.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Just as well as most of it goes straight down the drain.

[Phil L]

The trap is there to stop sewer smells coming back up through the plughole, that's it's only job

[charles]

but "liquid soaps" are not soap - they are detergents which are very bad for some people's skins (like mine).

[stuart noble]

It also happens to be where anything that cannot flow freely through the waste pipe collects, which is why it's invariably the source of any blockage IME.

[Nick Odell]

Some liquid soaps really are just that. I've been using Dr Bronner's for a couple of years now and it is pure old-fashioned liquid soap.

the whole of the label isn't obligatory: they don't administer a test before they let you buy it)

Nick

[Alan (BigAl)]

My 2-pen'orth - I would check the 2m long horizontal pipe section. I once had a similar problem in a rented property, where the sink outlet was horizontal. Over the years and with hot water etc it had sagged. The dip had become congested with a build up of toothpaste. I disconnected the section and knocked out a lump of what looked like partly set Polyfiller.

This may not be your problem, but it could be worth a check.

good luck

Al

[charles]

is it available in the UK?

[Alan (BigAl)]

My 2-pen'orth - I would check the 2m long horizontal pipe section. I once had a similar problem in a rented property, where the sink outlet was horizontal. Over the years and with hot water etc it had sagged. The dip had become congested with a build up of toothpaste. I disconnected the section and knocked out a lump of what looked like partly set Polyfiller.

This may not be your problem, but it could be worth a check.

good luck

Al

[Phil L]

I agree, but that's not what it's for.

It's 99% certain that the blockage will be organic*, IE hair and fat, and a teaspoon of caustic will destroy both in less than an hour. My bath/shower waste gets clogged every few months, and this is how I clean mine.

*when I moved back in here, the basin waste was emptying very slowly, further investigations revealed the source - three Crayolas of various colours and half a kids paintbrush....obviously I had to unscrew the waste to get them out

[Nick Odell]

I've been buying it over the counter in Canada and bringing it home with me but I see that it's available from Amazon and other mail-order outlets.

By the way, for the use it gets, twelve quid for a 500ml bottle is very cheap and for me works out at just a fraction over 2p per day. I use it every day in the shower. Less than 1ml in the palm of my hand washes my hair and all the rest of me too - and I'm not a small skinny bloke either. Love the stuff.

Nick

[Mike Barnes]

DerbyBorn :

Thanks, but in the basin giving the trouble, only liquid soap is used.

Contrastingly in the shower next to it, only soap bars (Pears) are used, and it gives no trouble. I really dislike liquid soap for showering.