Best Ways to Clean Your Drains and Avoid a Kitchen Disaster

We are all aware of the warning signs of a clogged drain. The sink that takes a long time to drain, water pooling around your feet in the shower and the worst of them all the unpleasant odor. These are all the signs that are warning you that you will soon be facing a clogged drain.

Most people have no idea how often drains should be cleaned, as a matter of fact, most people don’t pay attention to their drains until they are completely clogged, but this is one of the things every homeowner should know.

Prepare Yourself

Like with any other cleaning job that involves chemicals or bacteria it is best to be prepared. Having rubber gloves will protect your hands and it will make it easier to pick up clumps of food and other unpleasant stuff you will come across with. Protective glasses are important to have because they will prevent any chemicals or bacteria-filled water from getting into your eyes.

Call For Help

If you are not confident that you can safely handle the problem yourself, call professionals like Canberra Plumbing and Drains to clear your clogged drain. It is always a better and safer option to have a professional come in rather than you doing something you’re not confident in and possibly hurting yourself or doing damage to the drain.

Baking Soda and Vinegar

Most likely you will already have both of these items in your kitchen cupboards.

Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of white vinegar in a measuring cup. It will start to fizz immediately, so you should waste no time pouring it down the clogged drain. The fizzing action will help get rid of food, gunk, and grime that has built up in the pipe. Let that sit for an hour after you pour it in. Flushed with boiling water until the drain is completely clear.

As an alternative, put as much of the dry baking soda as you can down the drain and then pour in the vinegar over it.

Dish Detergent

Boil approximately two liters of water and mix in a few tablespoons of liquid dish soap. Carefully pour the mixture down the sink.

This method may take a few tries. But, it works great on grease clogs because it is heating up the grease so it can go all the way out of the pipe.

The Bent Wire Hanger

This is a very simple, yet surprisingly effective. Take a wire coat hanger from your closet and simply straighten it, but leave the hook as it is. Make sure you have something next to you where you can discard your findings.

Use the hook end to fish in the drain and pull up any food or hair buildup that clogging the pipe. Remember, you want to be pulling out the gunk, not pushing it in further. When you got as much as you can out, run hot water and it should clear it up.

Baking Soda and Salt

Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of salt together and pour down the drain. Let it sit for at least a half-hour or as long as overnight.

After you let it sat pour boiling water over it until the drain is completely clean.

The Wet and Dry Vacuum

If you own a wet and dry vacuum, it can be used as a great tool for unclogging drains. Set your vacuum to liquids, then create a tight seal over the drain. You might want to be creative with this one and adapt an old plunger head for this purpose. With the vacuum turned on to the highest it can go, It should be powerful enough to draw all the stuff out and unclog the drain into the vacuum bag.

It won’t always work but it’s always worth trying.

Clean the Pipe

This one is very simple. First, place an empty bucket you don’t use underneath the pipe underneath the sink. The bucket is there to collect the water that will spill out of the pipe. Use a plumbers wrench to loosen the slip nuts on the ends h the pipe. When the trap is free, remove it and turn it upside down to empty the content into the bucket.

Sometimes you will have to fish around inside for debris. An old toothbrush is a good tool to use to get the gunk out. Rince the trap and put it all back together. In most cases that will do the trick.

How to avoid clogged drains

Do not put grease, oil, banana peels, potato peels, bones, or seeds down the drain.
Put ice cubes in the garbage disposal to sharpen the blades.
For a better smell put tiny citrus or lemon peels in the disposal.
Cleaning drains should be done regularly to get rid of odors and buildups that lead to clogs. By adding the cleaning of drains to your cleaning routine, it is guaranteed that you will reduce the risk of having to deal with blocked drains. Plus, if you are looking into selling your house it is very important that your drains are not clogged, because of that can divert people from putting an offer on your house.