How to Remove Clogs In Your Sink

Stop. Let's imagine something... lets image a horribly drastic scenario: you are putting together a family dinner party in 8 or so Hours, are doing the dishes, and need everything to go well and everyone to have a blast. While doing the dishes, you discover that the drain has suddenly stopped draining properly. While taking the dishes out of the dish you find out that your drain is clogged. Oh no.

How to Fix a Clog

Does anybody know why drains clog? Drains clog not because they're incompetent, they clog because of the way we use them. If you ask a plumber, he'll explain to you that drains clog because water isn't only thing that goes down a drain. The kitchen sink could have all types of grease going down the drain. The biggest problems in other areas of the house are hair and soap scum. As things progress over time, hair (and other substances) build up, lining the drain, then one day 10 months later, another piece of food drops in the drain and clogs it.

Foreign objects (such as bottle tops) also can easily clog into a drain and get it clogged. If you've got foreign objects clogging your drain, a drain cleaner isn't going to solve that type of problem. First, try to remove the foreign object yourself, then, if you can't remove it, call a local recommended plumber.

If the problem isn't from a foreign object, the first thing you need to do it try to local where the clog is. Remove and clean the stopper found at the entrance to the drain. Remove any object you can reach then pour hot water down the drain. Next, try plunging the drain (what fun, I know), and it this doesn't work...you can also try an auger or sewer snake.

Three Chemical Drain Cleaners & How to Use them

Chemical drain cleaners come in power, liquid, or gel form. You can find most of these type of drain cleaners on the shelves of Walmart. All chemical reactions involve the movement of electrons. Drain cleaners work by "adding to" or "taking away from" the clogging substance. This generates heat which , usually helps to remove the clog.

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There are three main types of drain cleaners

"Caustic Drain Cleaners," as they're called, have particular substances like lye and caustic potash. They're bases, so they give electrons to the clogging substance, and their hydroxide ions create the reaction that clears the clog. These alkaline (or basic) chemicals cause heat to be released, turning grease into a soap-like substance that's more easily dissolved. What's interesting is that these chemical drain cleaners and heavier than water. This allows them to reach through the clog (through standing water) and unclog it.

Oxidizing drain cleaners contain substances such as household bleach, peroxides and nitrates. What happens here is that these chemicals make the organic material of the clog to "loose" electrons and thus become oxidized. The resulting products are heavier than water, which allows them to "reach thru" the clog (as it were) through standing water to unclog it.

Acid Cleaners, the last Chemical Cleaner type, aren't sold in store and are usually sold to plumbing professionals. These typically contain high concentrations of sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, substances that increase hydronium ions in a solution and attract electrons from the clog. These hydronium ions end up reacting chemically with the clog material, the reaction produces heat, and this melts the congealed grease and removes the clog.

Try of these Chemical Cleaners on your clogged drain and see if that unclogs it. Most cleaners have you wait for 15 to 20 minutes (after pouring the product down the drain) and then flush it with hot water. If the drain is still clogged, "rinse and repeat" as they say until the clog gets unclogged or better yet, hire Plumbers in Winston Salem area.