Life can be full of little annoyances, and one of them is a slow moving drain. There are many solutions to this issue, and some work better than others for a given problem. Naturally, the best way to have an open drain is to treat it with respect. Don’t dump grease down a kitchen drain, and use some sort of hair guard to protect your bathtub or shower drain. However, even with the best intentions clogs happen, and we have all been in the situation when trying to unclog a drain just doesn’t work using drain cleaners. See the photos below for further explanations.
Most people will use a drain declogging chemical like Drano. Drano contains a detergent to break down grease, and a caustic agent to further dissolve organic debris, like hair. A thickening agent is added so that the chemical will settle down into the drain where the clog is. Using these types of chemicals can work in many situations, but declogging may require several applications. It is best to allow the chemicals to work for a bit before flushing the sink with fresh water. It is important to alert family members that you are unclogging a drain to avoid any chemicals from splashing onto an unsuspecting individual. I usually place the container right next to the sink as an alert.If you have long-haired family members it is likely that your tub clog is being caused by their shedding. Unfortunately, these hairs can get stuck towards the drain opening while drain de-cloggers settle in the drains trap. Naturally, the best way to avoid this problem is to use a hair strainer, but this pre-emptive option is frequently neglected by shower takers. I removed this hair using needle nose pliers from the orifice of a customer’s tub that was draining slowly. Hair clogs accumulate, and the more that they do the more that they trap other debris. There are a number of inexpensive hair “snakes” that you can purchase on-line or at your local hardware store. These semi-rigid gadgets have spines on them that catch errant hairs. Naturally, you can make your own snake if you have a little ingenuity. Note that these devices are different from the plumber’s snakes that usually have a more blunted end and are designed to dislodge plugs of gunk.
