EMERGENCY HOTLINE 1-800-475-1504
Hours of Operation: Monday – Saturday 8am – 7pm
A clogged sink can be a nightmare for any homeowner. Not knowing what is clogging the sink makes it harder to fix the problem, and many people immediately turn to drain cleaners with harsh chemicals. These drain cleaners can damage your pipes, which does more harm than good in the long run.
Most sink clogs are made of grease or dry solids that are stuck to the pipe walls. However, those clogs rarely cover the entire width of the pipe, meaning your clog is slowing down the drain rather than clogging the whole thing. To remove these clogs, you need to loosen the clog and here are a few methods you can use.
Boiling water is the most basic way to loosen a clog. It simply heats up the clog until it starts to flow again and can be washed away by the water. Always try this method first since pipes are made to handle hot liquids and water is non-destructive to pipes.
Put a small pot of water on the stove and heat it until boiling. Make sure it is a pot that you can easily pick up without spilling. Then, slowly pour the boiling water down the drain. Go slowly so that the water passes through the clog and doesn’t back up into the sink. It may take several tries, but this method can clear many basic clogs.
Grease can be a problem for sink drains because when it cools and dries, it hardens and creates a clog that boiling water may not be able to shift. If this happens, try mixing dish soap in water and pouring it down the drain. Dish soap is formulated to break down grease and using it in your drain can sometimes break down the grease and shift the clog.
If boiling water and dish soap are not enough, then you need something with a chemical reaction to help break down the clog. The best option for this is vinegar and baking soda.
Start by pouring boiling water down the sink to heat up the clog and make it more flexible. Then, pour a 1:1 mixture of baking soda and vinegar down the sink. The reaction between baking soda and vinegar can break down the clog. Cover the drain and let it sit for five minutes. Then, pour more water down the stink to wash everything out.
If you have tried several methods to unclog your sink and they haven’t worked, it may mean that you need to use a physical method to remove the clog. A drain cleaning stick is a long piece of plastic with spikes that can handle clogs made of hair and other materials.
Clogged drains are a very common problem in homes and sometimes they can be fixed using the techniques mentioned above. If you can’t seem to clear your drain, or the blockage keeps re-occurring it’s time to call in the professionals to perform a plumbing inspection to get to the root of the problem.
At Art Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electric our team of licensed plumbers can help you clear any clog. Contact us today at 1-800-475-1504 for all your plumbing needs.
