The scary truth about drain cleaners
Imagine you woke up tomorrow and your bathroom sink refused to drain. It is now filled with toothpaste and has ruined your morning routine. What do you do now? Hopefully, it is to call a Plumber and not rush to the nearest hardware store for a chemical drain cleaner. While you have been told they work miracles and the marketing is fairly sound, these chemicals just do more harm than good in most cases.
Why is that? Well, the main reason these products are considered successful is that they use chemicals like caustic lye, sulfuric acid, and sodium hydroxide to breakdown whatever is causing the stoppage. But this success is both fleeting and, in the long run, extremely damaging to your fixtures and pipes.
The damages of these Drain Cleaners & their Chemicals
See, these drain cleaners and their chemicals use acids to break down hair, sludge, and gunk. While this works sometimes, it can also damages the pipes that they flow through. If the product gets “stuck” in water or is forced to sit on the pipe it will lead to corrosion or warping. These acids can soften PVC and increase corrosion and breakdown of metal pipes. This will, in the end, lead to leaks, cracks in the pipe, and massive repair costs.
Secondly, the chemicals act like any other liquid and will only break what it can touch. That is usually in the bottom half of the pipe. See the picture below? That pipe is almost closed with extreme amounts of deposits and build ups. Using a chemical might not work or it would be temporary as it wouldn’t be able to clear it out more than it already is.
In the right circumstances, they can be used without doing too much damage. But if used wrong, the above can become problematic
What can you do to avoid using drain cleaners?
So now what do you do to fix this clog? Depending on the situation the best course of action would be to call your local plumber to come out and use their equipment to clear the line. This not only ensures that whatever was blocking the line is cleared out, but it will also let help you know if there is a bigger problem in your lines like roots. If it is a slight clog in your tub for instance, simple house bleach can be used and may actually clear the leak. House bleach does not have the same corrosive effects as other products. After you have had it cleared, you can use simple house bleach to clear any smells.
What does Four Star Plumbing do for stoppages?
We start by using one of our specialized drain cleaning machines to scour the pipe. Once we do that we can determine based on what was pulled back what might be causing this issues. In fact, in most cases we can even put a Camera down the line and see exactly what is causing it! If you want to know more on those options check out our blog on Drain Cleaning.
