Have a shower, bathtub, or a kitchen/bathroom sink that won’t drain? Blockages can be caused by hair, toiletry products, food scraps, grease, and even tree roots.
This article has a list of DIY solutions for clearing that pesky clog and hopefully have your drain unblocked in no time.
Measuring Progress on Unblocking your Drain
You can actually check the progress you’re making on your drain with this simple trick.
Use a stopwatch, likely on your smart device, and see how long it takes for the water to drain down. It’s a clear, objective way to assess how much progress you’re making on clearing your blockage using different methods, or coming to terms that you might have an extreme problem that requires a plumber.
Clearing a Blocked Drains, Step-by-Step Guide
Simmering (NOT BOILING) Water
The simplest solution to loosening up any debris in your drain is to use nearly boiling water. It’s vital that the water isn’t too hot, as boiling water can damage PVC pipes and cause them to bend out of shape.
- Pour 1 litre of normal water into your drain, and use a stopwatch or digital timer to measure how long it takes to go down.
- Heat 1 litre water to a simmer (80-90°C).
- Squirt a small spoonful of your normal dishwashing liquid down the drain.
- Have a timer on standby to measure how long it takes for the hot water to drain.
- Pour the hot water down the drain.
- Use your stopwatch to measure how long the hot water took to drain
If it’s a light blockage, you can use this method a couple of times. If the time for the water to go down is getting substantially shorter you should keep using this method, but if it’s only down by five or so seconds, it’s a sign you’re going to need something hardier.
Bi-Carb & Vinegar
Bicarbonate soda and vinegar are home cleaning staples, and for good reason. The bubbling chemical reaction that happens when you combine them is highly effective for loosening debris.
It’s deeply important that you use hot water with this solution. If you don’t, the bi-carb and vinegar will crystalise and not create that bubbling reaction you’re looking for. Follow these steps:
- Pour 1 litre of simmering (80-90°C), not boiling, water down the drain.
- Pour 1/2 a cup of bi-carb soda and 1/2 of vinegar down the drain.
- Quickly block the drain with a wet cloth, or a rubber plug if it’s a sink that has one.
- Leave for 10 to 30 minutes. The longer the better.
- Pour another litre of hot, simmering water.
Beware Chemical Cleaners
If you’re still not getting results, we understand you might be tempted to use a chemical cleaner.
While there are a bevy of chemical drain cleaners available at grocery and hardware stores, we caution against using them. Besides being quite dangerous if not handled properly—always make sure to wear gloves, have proper ventilation, and carefully read the instructions—they can leave you worse off than you began. The harsh chemicals can corrode your pipes, injure plumbers, and are also very bad for the environment, as it can negatively impact aquatic systems.
If you call a plumber about a blockage, please let them know if you’ve used any chemical cleaners. It’s a courtesy to make sure they can adequately protect themselves from any harsh chemicals still sitting in your pipes.
That said, drain cleaners can be useful for mild draining issues and pipe maintenance. Consider using an enzyme drain cleaner instead. They are much more ecofriendly to ocean friendly and wayward plumbers trying to fix drains.
Plunger
Plungers work by creating a vacuum seal that forcibly moves blockages to dislodge them.
Make sure you use the correct type of plunger. A cup plunger is most effective for sinks, while a flange plunger is best for toilets. Here’s how to do it:
- Place the plunger over the drain and push downwards to create a seal.
- If plunging a sink or bathtub with a drainage hole, make sure to block the hole with a wet cloth to create a stronger suction (and avoid filth being sprayed at your face).
- Sharply PULL the plunger up, not down.
- Repeat three to five times.
If it works properly, the force of pulling up should be enough to dislodge a blockage.
Clean the P-Trap and Goose Neck
If you have a sink with accessible pipes and want to put your DIY skills to the test, you can try unblock your drain by cleaning out your sink’s P-trap.
A P-trap is a U-shaped bend in the pipe that often collects food debris, grease, or toiletries, and is the frequent culprit of sink blockages. Try these steps.
- Place a bucket beneath the P-trap (this is to collect water, as sink traps always have water sitting in them).
- Use a wrench (or your hands if it’s made of PVC) to slowly unscrew the nuts of the P-trap.
- Wait for the water to drain out of the P-trap as you loosen the nuts.
- Remove the trap and clean it out by pushing multiple squares of paper towel in a twisting motion through the pipe like a giant pipe cleaner. You can clean any remaining filth with an old toothbrush.
Drain Snake or a Cleaning Auger
If the blockage is deep enough, you might end up needing to get a Drain Snake or Cleaning Auger. These are flexible, coiled metal wires that can shred blocked debris, or hook it by pulling it up. These can be slightly costly. Metal coat hangers are a frequent DIY version, but you have to be careful, as they can scratch and damage your pipes, or might not be effective at reaching an especially deep blockage.
Conclusion
If none of these solutions work for you, there might be a deeper issue. Either your pipes are misaligned or sagging, the clog is extremely deep in your drainage service system, or even the possibility of having tree roots growing into your sewage pipes which need to be dug up.
Plumbers have specialised knowledge on how to unblock drains as well as access to tools such as drain snakes, CCTV cameras attached to hoses to identify issues in the pipes, and hydrojets to use highly pressurised water to clear stubborn clogs.At OA Plumbing Brisbane, we have been working in the plumbing industry for 30 years, helping locals with all of their plumbing troubles, and would love nothing more than to clear any blockages in your home. Give us a call, and we’ll get you sorted out.
