What You Should Know About Drain Cleaners

6/10/2021 (Permalink)

No doubt, you have felt the frustration of dealing with a clogged sink or tub. Soap residue, food scraps, and hair can all contribute to a clogged drain, which can cause surface residue, bacteria, and odors, and painfully slow or not draining.

The best defense is to avoid putting problem items down your drains, including eggshells, potatoes, peaches, other food peelings, and hair or beard trimmings. If you decide to use a drain cleaner, you should know a few things about them.

Drain Cleaners

While they have their place, certain types of cleaners work better on certain kinds of clogs. There're four types:

Acid – Muriatic acid or sulfuric acid

Oxidizing – Nitrate-based, peroxides, bleaches

Caustic – Caustic potash or lye

Enzymatic – Eco-friendly, non-toxic enzymes and bacteria

Applications

If fat or grease-based blockage causes a clogged drain, skip the chemicals and call a local plumber in Bartlett, Tennessee, or Cordova, Tennessee, in the beginning. Treated with cleaners, these clogs usually move deeper into the drain and require professional and expensive servicing.

Acid cleaners may do wonders for a clog, but they can eat through drain pipes, the fumes can burn the eyes and throat, and the acid can burn through skin and leave open sores. Acid cleaners should be used only as a last resort, preferably by a professional.

Oxidizing and caustic cleaners work by creating heat, which over time, breaks down the blockage until it can be flushed. Enzymatic uses bacteria and enzymes actually to eat through the blockage. They may take a bit longer but work well on food or organic clogs and tend to do an excellent job on toilet clogs.

With a bit of luck and care, your clogged drain may be resolved, but nobody wants to mess with goopy clogs or sewage if it fails or a pipe breaks, but if things go south, contact SERVPRO of Bartlett / Cordova to help set things right with your sewage cleanup.