We have all ran into a clogged sink drain at least once or twice in our life. It can be quite the inconvenience. The good news is most clogged sinks can be fixed without the need to call a plumber – which can run over a $100 for a simple unclogging. I am going to cover a few different approaches that you can use to unclog your sink’s drain.
Using Drano
Drano has been a staple for many years because – in most cases – it works well. You can find it at most superstores for less than $10. After purchasing, it is as simple as pouring it down the drain, waiting a couple of minutes for the concoction to work its magic, and then flushing the drain with water for a couple minutes. In minor backups, this will clear up the drain pronto.
The home remedy
If Drano is not a solution for you because there are no superstores nearby, or because you want to use a more “natural” approach, then consider using the baking soda, salt, and vinegar approach. For this approach, you will need one cup of baking soda, one cup of table salt, and one cup of white vinegar.
Clear out the sink and pour the baking soda, then salt, then white vinegar down the drain. Wait about ten minutes and then again flush the sink with hot/boiling water.
This is typically a cheap alternative and again can unclog most bathroom sinks.
Manually unclogging the drain
If you used either of the before mentioned solutions, it may be time to try and unclog the drain manually. This is not nearly as hard or scary as it seems if you can easily access the plumbing under the sink. If it is accessible, then you will likely be able to take this approach no problem.
1. Make sure there is no water in the sink, as removing the pipe will more than likely unclog the drain, at which point any water left in the sink will come out.
2. Put a big bowl or bucket under the sink to catch anything that might come out of the pipe.
3. Loosen the two collars on the trap. You may need to use a wrench for this. Fair warning, it might stink to high heaven after pulling the pipe off, so just be prepared.
4. Clear out any blockage from the pipe after removing it. If there is little to no blockage in the trap, then you may need to remove the sink plug and clean in the sinks drain pipe. You can remove the plug by loosening (counterclockwise) the bolt on the back of the sink drain.
5. Once clear, place pipe back in place and tighten the collars, and if the drain plug had to be removed, then make sure you hook it back up.
6. Run water in the sink to confirm the blockage is gone and there are no leaks, especially around the collars.
That is it. No chemicals, no waiting, no cost. Again, this method does require you to get a little dirty, but it may be the quickest, most cost-effective way of unclogging your drain.
If all the previous solutions failed, then it is probably time to look into calling a plumber as the problem may be more complex or serious than expected. The good news is, by doing the easy solutions first, you can eliminate those options for the plumber and he can get down to figuring out the actual problem. This could save you money in the long run.
Quote of the day: People may think I’m crazy, but one of the ways I like to wind down my Friday is to get some of our household chores done, whether it’s cleaning or doing a big food shop, so the house is all nice for the weekend. – Victoria Pendleton
