I noticed water backing up into my sink when my dishwasher drains. Oh no, I thought. A partial blockage. I used some Liquid Plumr.

Side note, you go to the store, and there’s big jugs and small jugs and three brands and liquid and “gel” and one part and two part…I don’t know if you’ve seen that youtube short of a tiktok of a Tumblr post talking about how there’s no such thing as “glue”? Well this reminds me of that because who the fuck knows what these substances are?

Anyway I bought one and followed the directions and it didn’t work so I’m probably going to have to take my sink drain apart which isn’t going to be fun.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    6·
    19 hours ago

    You can get various types of flexible devices that you push down a drain. There are relatively-simple ones that are just basically a barbed plastic strip or flexible metal thing.

    There’s a plumber’s snake, which can have a manual crank (or more-elaborate motorized ones).

    In general, I’ve found that those are more-effective than liquid drain cleaners. A hardware store will carry them.

    Be careful, if you’ve already poured drain cleaner down the thing, not to burn yourself with the substance.

    EDIT: Oh, right. The WP article on the plumber’s snake makes a point that I’d forgotten about — one thing that you can do is use a toilet plunger on a sink, though I think most of us don’t normally think of doing so. I’ve successfully done that in the past too.

    • agingelderly@lemmy.world
      3·
      17 hours ago

      Any recommendations for a slow draining bathtub? The plastic barbed strip I got doesn’t do anything - probably not long enough is my guess. If I plunger it with my hand it makes it a little better but it doesn’t last. It’s a 100yr old house so I’m worried I’m going to break something if I use chemicals or a snake

      • Sergio@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        16 hours ago

        Last couple times this happened I called a plumber I trusted. The first time they used a “snake”, the second time they used a sink plunger. At the time I had a bit of money and could afford it, and I didn’t want to break a pipe or put the wrong chemical down there or something.

      • [deleted]@piefed.worldEnglish
        2·
        16 hours ago

        You want this kind of thing, it easily removes the hair that is clogging the drain.

        https://www.lowes.com/pd/FlexiSnake-Plastic-Drain-Stick/50257883

        The difficult part can be the drain cover. You need to remove it because the hair plug will be sizeable and can’t just be pulled through the holes that the thing fits into.

        Same thing with sinks in the bathroom btw, it is always hair and it will stink horribly, so be prepared for that.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        1·
        16 hours ago

        I wouldn’t be the best resource for more-elaborate stuff, like if you think that the thing is at serious risk of falling apart, sorry. I don’t do that much plumbing stuff myself; I’ve had to unclog drains.

  • Iconoclast@feddit.uk
    2·
    15 hours ago

    Those products are inherently flawed as even if they worked, once the drain is already clogged it’s too late. Pouring it down the sink doesn’t do much. What ever little of it reaches the actual blockage has already been dilluted so much it’ll probably do nothing. Conversely, when it’s still draining a bit, the chemicals just flow down the drain instead of doing their job.

  • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
    3·
    17 hours ago

    Took a look at one of those chemicals, and it was made of KOH, or potassium hydroxide. If there’s hair or fat stuck in the drain, the OH- ion should deal with them. I suppose NaOH should be fine as well.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      5·
      17 hours ago

      The one I used didn’t, and I’ve been warned against trying again with something different in case the chemicals react badly. Now, my drain isn’t entirely blocked, it’s just slow. So I think it’s clear. But think in one hand, shit in the other and see which fills up faster.

      • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        17 hours ago

        As others have suggested, mechanical cleaning is usually a good idea. However, if that doesn’t work, the blockage is in a hard-to-reach location which requires chemicals.

        If at least some water flows through, it should flush out all the old chemicals. With enough water and time, it should be fine. Reading up on the previous chemical should help you determine if it’s compatible with another product.

        The chemical I found is a base, which means it’s compatible with other bases. However, pouring acid into it will heat up and melt plastic pipes, so it’s a good idea to know your chemicals.

        Also, chemical reactions take time. Decomposing hair and fat won’t happen instantly. When using drain cleaner, I usually let it sit for an hour or two before flushing with water.

  • litchralee@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    19 hours ago

    I only discovered “sink plungers” in the last year, and they’ve been remarkably effective for my uses. What usually ends up happening is that the blockage is brought up into the sink, at which point I vacuum it out with a wet-dry vacuum.

    To be effective, the emergency drain hole of the sink needs to be plugged first, and then the plunger can do its work. Note: things will get gross and messy. Don’t attempt if there is still drain cleaner in the pipes, since it will spray out.