No one likes to stand in water pooling up around their feet in the shower or watch their sink take a long time to drain. It smells and it’s dirty. Besides once your drain starts to clog it typically won’t get better. If you’ve got water accumulating in your sink or shower you’ll want to deal with it, sooner than later, before your drain ends up blocked completely. Here are 4 simple ways that you can try to clean your drain yourself before you would need to call a Plumber.
1.) Boiling Hot Water
It doesn’t get any easier than this! Simply boil up as much hot water as you can in a kettle and pour it down the drain. However, don’t pour the water very fast. Slowly pour the water down in two or three portions allowing it to work for a few seconds in between each pour.
2.) The Wire Coat Hanger
This is an old trick my grand pappy taught me. Simply take a wire coat hanger and bend it as straight as you can. Then take a pair of pliers and make a little hook on one end of the wire. Push the coat hanger down the drain and try to scrape up as much as you can. You should be able to get a lot of hair and gunk out. However, try not to push the clog down into the pipe any further. After you’ve scraped up what you can run boiling hot water down the drain. This should help out your drain to run freely again, quite nicely.
3.) The Wet Vac
It always cease’s to amaze me all of the different things you can use a Wet Vac for. For some clogs it can actually work wonders! The process is very simple. First, take the end of the vacuum hose and seal it as tight as you can over the drain. Next, turn the vacuum onto high. Now wait… If your vacuum is powerful enough it should be able to suck a lot of clogs right out. Once you’ve sucked it out finish the job by pouring boiling hot water down the drain.
4.) Baking Soda and Vinegar
Sometimes just a little Baking Soda and Vinegar can clear your drain out within just a few hours. First, pour a cup of dry Baking soda down the drain then a cup of Vinegar. Wait for a few hours then pour down some boiling hot water. If you can wait for a whole night, that would be better. The fizzing reaction from combining the baking soda and vinegar is what helps remove the gunk and grime. The longer you can let it fizz in the pipe the better this will work.
Still Not Draining? Call a Plumber
If none of these ways are working you’ll want to call a professional plumber. It’s not going to be the least expensive option but it’s going to be the least troublesome. At Neighborhood we have modern drain cleaning machines that can unclog any drain quickly and easily. Give these tricks a try and if you still can’t get your drain unclogged give us a call or schedule service online. We have Plumbers on call 24 hours a day, looking forward to helping you!