Thought I’d canvass some opinions here. I have a bathroom sink drain that’s quite slow. It’s not completely blocked, but it’s bad. Takes 20 minutes or so to drain if I fill it completely. I’ve tried snaking it with one of those flexible, plastic sticks with the barbs on it, but the clog must be further down, cause I’m fishin’ out nothing. And that’s starting from where the piping goes into the wall, past the trap (which is also clean.) The plumbing is all pretty old, so I’m disinclined to use traditional Drano. I’ve heard good things about these enzyme based cleaners, but most cites/sites seem to suggest that it’s best as a maintenance tool, and won’t work on a fully stopped drain.
So: am I past the point where an enzyme based cleaner will work for me? Or is it worth a shot? Anyone have pro or con experiences with these?
I recently had the plumber over to do some work on my hot water heating system. While he was here I mentioned that my kitchen sink was clogging up and I was using a plunger on it.
He suggested that I use Drano when it clogs. He said the old cast iron pipes get rough inside and gunk tends to stick – the Drano will release the gunk.
I get surprisingly good results just pouring very hot water down a sluggish drain. After cooking pasta, I save my water and pour it down whichever drain needs it.
I’m a fan of HOT water, as kayaker noted, with a big squirt of dish detergent to help get rid of the grease. I think the problem is my shaving soap, so I do this monthly.
Baking soda and white vinegar, in a ratio of 1:2, is also recommended
Day one didn’t seem to do much. The drain was about as slow last night as it was before. Day two is now in progress.
Kayaker - I tried chasing the cleaner last night with very hot water (I boiled a couple quarts, and then diluted it with tap water just a touch.) Didn’t seem to help. Tonight I may do the same, and throw a squirt of soap in as guiltguy suggests.
You’re washing the drain cleaner out of the drain, so I wouldn’t chase it with hot water. I had the same problem a few weeks ago, and finally ended up having a guy come out and snake the drain from the basement. It was pretty reasonable, and I could have saved myself a lot of time and aggravation if I had just started there.
That’s after leaving it in the drain for six hours, by the way. Which is what the instructions advise: leave it there for six hours, then flush it. The instructions didn’t specify a water temperature, but I figured I’d try hot.
I was highly skeptical, but I had some that worked for amazingly for me. I have a bathroom sink that had been very slow since I moved in years ago. It’s older so I wanted to avoid acid or lye, and all of the plunging/boiling water/baking soda/Vinegar/Witchcraft methods did absolutely nothing. After trying 4 different types of snakes reaching to only a maximum of a foot behind the wall, I accepted the geometry is just non-navigable.
Out of desperation I tried some enzyme(I did use three times the prescribed amount), left it 18 hours, then plunged the hell out of it, and it flowed free.
Out of curiosity, my cleaner suggests using one scoop mixed in a pint of warm water. Did you use the equivalent of three scoops in a pint of water (ie, 3x strong), or three scoops in three pints of water (ie, simply 3x as much)?
The stuff I got was liquid in a bottle. It said to add 2 ounces, or 4 for tougher clogs.I added a good swig that was a third of the bottle.
P.S. Actually looking at the bottle it never actually says the word enzyme. It just says natural and safe. But I got it from the enzyme section, and I don’t know what else it would be.
P.P.S looked up the spec sheet online, that says it is enzyme.
Have you checked the vent stack to make sure it is free of obstruction? A partially blocked stack vent can cause slow drainage even if the drain lines are clear.
No. I’m not even sure how I would check that. Presumably it’s behind the wall. All I can see is the vertical drain below the sink, which leads to a p-trap, which leads to a horizontal pipe into the wall.
My roof access is challenging, but just looking around the neighborhood, I see relatively few vents on the roof. Which makes me think I have relatively few vents on my roof. Which makes me think that the vents I have provide pressure equalization for more than my sink drain. But all my other drains are fine. Is it therefore fair to conclude that my vent is not likely blocked?
Assuming we’re talking single family house in the US …
Typically there is one vent for each plumbing stack. That is, there’ll be one over each bathroom and one over the kitchen. In a multi-story house the bathrooms will generally be arranged so the plumbing for them is directly over/under the plumbing for the floor below/above. The vent itself may just be a piece of 2" PVC pipe sticking up out of the roof about 6". Some designs have T-caps or animal shields. Others don’t.
Right, so to clarify: single family, two-story (over a basement) house. The bathroom with the slow sink in question is over the kitchen. All the other drains in that stack (kitchen sink, bathroom tub, toilet, and clothes washer in the basement) all drain fine. So unlikely to be the vent, right?
