Ask Art: What Can I Do About A Slow Drain?
A slow drain is a clear sign that something is causing a blockage. No homeowner wants to sit with a plumbing issue for long because it’s frustrating and unhygienic. You may be tempted to use the strongest substance you can find but there are a few ways to tackle this problem DIY style, without causing any harm to your plumbing pipes.
If you are looking for a drain cleaner as a method of continuous maintenance, you may want to consider a less harmful organic drain product. Try these DIY tips for clearing a slow drain before calling your local plumber. Who knows? You may find they just may do the trick.
Baking Soda Mixture
Using this method to fix a slow drain requires some household items that you’re likely to have in your home already or are relatively easy to find in a store near you. Measure half a cup of salt and half a cup of baking soda. First, pour the salt into the drain followed by an equal amount of baking soda. Then, pour half a cup of vinegar down the drain and leave the mixture to work its way through the pipes. After about a half-hour, run hot water down the drain so that any trapped debris can wash out. Depending on the extent of the clog, you might need to repeat this process until the water drains as per normal. You can swap out the vinegar for lemon juice if you prefer. The idea is that the acidity of these ingredients breaks down the clog without causing serious damage to your pipes.
Snaking Your Drain Pipes
A drain snake can be used to dislodge built-up waste in your pipes. A snake is a long piece of wire that can be fed down a pipe. Slowly maneuver the drain snake down the pipes until you feel where the blockage is and gently wiggle the wire until you feel the build-up coming loose. Once you feel the issue loosening up, pour some hot water down the drain to wash out the waste. It is important to do this without too much force to not cause any damage. You may also combine a baking soda mixture in between these steps to aid in breaking down stubborn waste. If the blockage is too serious, you may require a professional plumber to feed a drain snake all the way through your pipes as this should only be done by a professional plumber.
Plunging Your Slow Drain
A plunger can do more than just unclog a toilet. A sink plunger can be used to fix a back-up drain. The first step in using a sink plunger is to cover the drain with a cloth or an old rag. Once you start plunging the drain, there is a chance that water will be forced upwards due to the sucking motion. Once you’ve secured the drain, fill the sink up with just enough water to cover the plunger. Sink plungers are slightly smaller than toilet plungers. Using small, quick movements plunge the drain as you would a toilet. If the water starts to drain normally, you’ve fixed the problem. You may need to repeat these steps a few times to completely clear the pipes.
Drain Cleaners
We must caution you against using drain cleaners that are harmful to your homes plumbing pipes. Although it may feel like you want to blast the blockage with strong chemical drain cleaners to make sure that you’ve cleared all the gunk out, some drain cleaners can damage the integrity of your pipes, leaving you with a bigger problem than before. Not only will these toxic ingredients damage your pipes, but they can also be toxic to your pets and the people in your home. They can burn the skin, eyes, damage fabrics and in fact, they are not all that effective. Once poured down the drain, they’ll travel straight down and if the blockage that is causing you trouble is sitting on the sides or the top of the drain, it’s likely to skip right past that and burn the bottom of the pipes.
One of the safest ways to clean your drain without calling in a plumber is to use an organic product like Bio-Clean. Bio-Clean is an eco-friendly drain cleaning solution that is made up of a mixture of natural bacteria and enzymes that actively break down the gunk in your pipes. This means that already, it is more effective than hard chemicals because it eats up any organic matter, grease, and food that is sitting around the sides, top, and base of your pipes. As the mixture moves through your pipes, it continues to clear up any matter in its path, keeping your pipes blockage free. Bio-Clean can be used as needed or, as a preventative maintenance method.
Call A Plumbing Professional In Florida To Clear Your Slow Drain
If you’ve tried all these remedies and nothing seems to work, you may have a slightly more serious issue on your hands that needs professional plumbing maintenance. And even if you’d rather not do this the DIY-way, give Art Rooter, Sewer & Drain Cleaning a call. We’ll send one of our experienced plumbers to diagnose your problem and quickly get to work on fixing it. Because at Art, no problem is too big or too small for us to fix!
