You’ve run into a clog in your sink, or another drain somewhere in your house. Annoying, right? And all too common. Clogged drains are the plumbing problem that pops up the most often, and it means the drain needs to be cleaned out. Plumbers offer excellent drain cleaning services, but you will probably want to try a few simple clog-clearing methods first. Below are some of the dos and don’ts for doing drain cleaning yourself.
DO use a sink plunger
Sink plungers are great devices to keep around the house, and they come in handy many times. With the simplest clogs, you can usually have them taken care of with a few presses of the sink plunger.
DON’T use chemical cleaners
The other solution that people turn to for drain cleaning along with the plunger is to pour a bottle of highly acidic chemicals down the drain. This is a bad idea. These caustic chemicals can damage drains, and they do not even do a thorough job. They’re also highly toxic, leave lingering dangerous fumes, and end up poisoning landfills.
DO use a simple manual drain snake
If you have a hand-cranked manual drain snake, you can try it out on the drain if the plunger didn’t work. These can sometimes solve basic clogs, or at the very least get the water flowing again. However, you’ll probably need more thorough cleaning from professionals.
DON’T try to do any further cleaning on your own
Once you’ve used the plunger and the drain snake, you should make a call to a licensed plumber for thorough drain cleaning. The other methods available, such as hydro-jetting and motorized drain snakes, are tools that are only safe in the hands of trained plumbers.
DON’T trust to amateurs
Non-professional plumbers can seriously damage your drains if you hand a drain cleaning job to them. Make no mistakes: call on licensed plumbers only, like ours, for your drain cleaning.
Modern Plumbing Industries, Inc. serves Winter Springs and throughout Central Florida.