When i was a renter, I thoughtlessly and mindlessly slopped Drano or Liquid plumber into drains, willy-nilly. Nary a thought to the damage they might be doing.
When I purchased my own home, my new plumber warned me gravely against doing that, telling me that such stuff erodes the pipes. Of course, by not using that nasty crap i am forced to pay HIM to scrape my hair out of the shower drain.
So what’s the unbiased expert fact about this: liquid drain openers, safe (ish…I know they are evil for countless other reasons) or destructive?
We’ve had a couple of threads on this before and some professional plumbers voiced their opinions - IIRC they didn’t think too much of Drano. I don’t recall if this was specifically because it actually damages pipes (check the back of the container to see if it says not to use it in certain types of plumbing), but most people have had the experience of liquid drain cleaners not clearing the clog and then you are left with a clogged drain with a bunch of lye (or whatever) backed up into your sink. When you (or your plumber) has to snake it or remove the J-trap to clear the obstruction, you’ve now got to deal with caustic chemicals instead of just dirty water.
My personal advice, as a homeowner, is to get a good pipe snake ($20 or so) and a decent pipe wrench. In order to clear a nasty clog you’ll need those tools, a plastic basin to catch water and some rubber gloves and towels. It takes a little elbow grease but it gets the job done and you don’t have to mess with the chemicals.
To clear normal gunk out of your drains you can try pouring some baking soda down, wait a few minutes, pour some plain white vinegar down, let it foam and bubble and do its job, then flush with boiling water. I’ve done this and it works quite well.
Just checked the label on the back of my big jug of industrial strength “Zep” drain cleaner (lye) and it says that it is “Safe For All Pipes”. So while the stuff is nasty and I’ll go to great lengths to avoid using it, it doesn’t look like it will actually dissolve any plumbing.
My own two cents of wisdom is to treat drains when they become slow, as opposed to waiting until they are completely blocked. A little white lye never hurt a drain, anyway.
I’m sure some plumbers will check in, but I wonder if, like you said, it’s not that it’ll eat away the pipes (although some very well may do just that), but that they don’t want to be elbow deep in chemicals. Of course telling a homeowner the truth won’t stop them from trying a $10 remedy, but telling them it could cause thousands of dollars of damage might. BTW Valgard, what are the ingrediants in that bottle? Oh, and years ago, I asked my landlord if I could use some chemicals on a slow drain (he just had leg surgery and wouldn’t be able to get over to our place any time soon), he said he would much rather we used enzymes then caustic chemicals, so take a look into those too. His biggest reccomendation though was to put a hair trap over the shower drain.
Nevermind I didn’t notice you mentioned it was lye. danceswithcats is right also, treat them when they are slow (or maintain them when they work by flushing a little down each drain and toilet every week or so (read the bottle, it’ll give you directions on how much/how often), when they are compleatly stopped, the chemical can’t move past the clog and it’ll work alot slower.
I have had only limited success with Drano and other lye based drain openers. I’ve had only slightly better results with sulfuric acid based drain cleaners (Sul-Fury is the brand name I’ve purchased). And in both cases, I’ve had deal with the chemicals when they didn’t unclog the pipes. I’ve also had pvc drain piping under a sink pull apart from the heat caused by the reaction between the chemical and the water (I think it was the sulfuric acid cleaner that time).
I second Valgard’s recommendation of a pipe snake. I would also include a toilet snake in any homeowner’s arsenal. This is a specialized tool especially for unclogging toilets when the basic plunger isn’t up to the task.
Finally, if you have drains/toilets prone to clogging, treating them with an enzymatic drain cleaner every so often seems to help quite a bit. They are not so great at removing clogs, but fairly effective at preventing them.