How do I unclog my sink drain?

[Northern_Piper]

thanks for all the responses, everyone.

@Ice Wolf

I’m not sure what you mean by pulling the plug out to clean it (do you mean the drain itself?) but – I usually use spoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda, dropped onto the drain while pouring hot water freshly boiled from a jug into the drain itself. The reaction usually ejects particles of gunk, bring them to the surface.

sorry - on re-reading, I see I wasn’t clear.

It’s not the kind of sink that has a rubber or plastic stopper that you put in each time you use the sink. It’s got a built in stopper that works by a combination of rods that link to a rod between the taps. Push that down, and the stopper comes up. Pull it up, and the stopper goes down.

The stopper itself is about 4 inches long, and goes down in the drain to the lever that comes into the drain pipe through a plastic plug, as bizwire described. They’re usually designed so that you can take the stopper out by hand - you just twist on the stopper when it’s in the “up” position. The lever that comes into the pipe fits into a groove at the base of the stopper. As you twist the stopper and pull up, the lever moves along the groove in the base of the stopper until it comes out of the groove. The stopper then just slides up and you’ve got it in your hand, usually with a disgusting mass of gunk, which is what has been causing the problem.

The problem I’ve got is that the groove itself collects gunk. So, if you leave it too long, you can no longer twist the stopper and release it from the lever. That’s the stage it’s at.

The difficulty with this type of built-in stopper is that you can’t use a snake on it - the stopper is in the way. In other houses, I’ve been able to disassemble the rod/lever contrapation the way bizwire suggests, but unfortunately this sink is in a home-made vanity and it’s really awkward to get at the pipes, so I’m looking for suggestions less drastic than Drano and easier than trying to get at the pipes.

I’ll try the boiling water and baking powder and see if anything results. If not, I’ll move on to the enzyme stuff that some of you have mentioned. Anyone have any brandnames that would help me track it down?

Dr Deth, whiy is boiling vinegar ‘slightly dangerous’ ? (other than the risk of spilling a boiling liquid, of course.)

[Annie-Xmas]

That’s baking soda–baking powder is soda with an acid added.

Try baking soda and hot water. If that doesn’t work, add some hot vinegar. There is no added danger for using hot vinegar.

[CookingWithGas]

@DrDeth

Well, Lye is what Drano is. But still, don’t use lye, don’t use acids, use nothing caustic.

Why not use Drano or Liquid Plumr? Acid will dissolve metal but what’s the problem with the other stuff?

[DrDeth]

@Northern Piper

I’ll try the boiling water and baking powder and see if anything results. If not, I’ll move on to the enzyme stuff that some of you have mentioned. Anyone have any brandnames that would help me track it down?

Dr Deth, whiy is boiling vinegar ‘slightly dangerous’ ? (other than the risk of spilling a boiling liquid, of course.)

You don’t want it getting in your eyes. It’s pretty safe.

Civil Guy, right, which is why I suggested it in post #6.

CookingWithGas: well, it can cause certain pipes to have problems. But when it leaks, or backwashes, or just plain won’t go down, you have a bunch of dangerous lye “lying around”. And, with some plugs, the lye doesn’t dissolve it, it makes a bigger plug. Lye is dangerous to you and the plumber you might have to call (and to pets, children and so forth), and is nothing for an amatuer to be messing with. Especially as snakes, plunging, hot water or vinegar and the enzyme drain cleaner are MUCH safer, cheaper, and worker better.

Baking soda is a mild base. Although it’s harmless, I can’t see it doing much to help your drain. Now- *washing * soda is a stronger base, and it works well on a slow moving kitchen sink, used with plenty of hot water. However there, any good “de-greasing” detergent will also work- used with plenty of hot water.

We basicly have two kinds of plugs. Kitchen sinks are caused by grease. Here, you need to melt the grease (boiling water) or dissolve it (washing soda, Dawn, enzymes).

Bathroom sinks are caused by hair/soap. You need to physically remove the hair (sink snake, hooks, brushes) and then dissolve the soap- hot water, vinegar, enzymes.

In areas with very hard water, a crust of minerals will form. Boiling vinegar works well on this.

Many dudes make enzymatic drain cleaner. Often it’s just labeled “build-up remover”. Just go to where the Drano type stuff is, and look around, read the labels. Best luck will be in a hardware store. Drano even made some of this!

[RTFirefly]

I’ve done this just once, on my tub, but it worked.

I’ve got one of those shop-vacs that you can use as a blower as well. So when my tub drain started slowing down, I put the blower nozzle over the tub drain, and turned it on for a second or two. It worked - I’m assuming it forced the clog into the main drainpipe that the sink and tub drains feed into, at which point it wasn’t a problem anymore.

The funny thing is, I just noticed that one of the Google ads is for a Liquid Plumr[sup]TM[/sup] product that works on the same principle.

[Annie-Xmas]

Grease (fat) and lye (drain cleaner) can combine to make soap. If you’ve ever seen a removed section of pipe completely clogged with nasty smelling green black soap, you will never use lye drain cleaners again.

[Northern_Piper]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the replies. Two kettles worth of boiling water, and the drain’s running clear! thanks.