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How to Unclog Your Sink at Home



May 27, 2022

How to Unclog Your Sink at Home

Unclog your sink, plumbing and more at home…

How to Unclog Your Sink at Home

It is a pet peeve we all face time and time again. Your sink floods with unsanitary water, and it just won’t circle down the drain. At best, it may just be the strings of hair blocking the way, or, at worst, the cause may come from deep below the drain. You reach out for the plunger to pump out the clog, yet nothing seems to be working. As they always say, desperate times may call for desperate measures. 

But, what if the situation may not be as serious as it seems? Is it possible to take matters into your own hands? Maybe so!

Thus, before you can reach out to your nearest plumber, come and find out how you can unclog your sink and prevent another dreary, watery scenario. Before you can get your hands dirty, it is best to be knowledgeable of the many root causes of your sinks and pipes getting clogs.

 

A Hairy Situation

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most common source would be human hair. Typically found in bathrooms and laundry areas, strands of hair will naturally fall off your head after taking a nice shower, and overtime, this will all collect and block the flow of bath water deep within your plumbing system. 

Fortunately, this may be the easiest blockage you can remove and prevent. To drain those clumps out of those pipes, pour in a decent amount of dishwashing liquid first, and follow this with a concoction of vinegar and baking soda. The acidity of this mixture should be able to clear out the clog. Afterwards, wash it off with boiling water. To prevent future drains, simply utilize a drain guard and clean it on a regular basis.

 

Oh So Greasy

Another common, yet probably unfamiliar, type of clog in drains is cooking oil or grease. A rookie mistake among cooking homeowners is disposing used cooking oil and meat fat into the kitchen sink. Little do people know that, overtime, the grease will coalesce, cool, and solidify deep within the pipelines, creating one of the most disruptive and most pungent kinds of drain blockages.

For this, there are three methods you can utilize to unclog. 

A simple use of the toilet/sink plunger is preferable if the blockage has not yet reached towards a severe state and is at a close distance from the drain’s opening.

Otherwise, you would need an effective liquid solution that would melt off the grease. One kind would be to mix a cup of boiling water and detergent, the latter of which loosens the density of the grease and helps flush it down. Another would be to use a chemical declogger such as this one by Mr. Muscle. It is capable of cleaning clogs and other blockages from your pipes in a swift span of 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the severity of the blockage.

Once the clogging is resolved, always remember to absolutely not throw away your excess oils in the drain. Alternatively, you may place them in an empty glass to dispose or even reuse for future cooking (if it remains clean and fresh).

 

Minerals

Now, we have arrived at the rarest and toughest type of clogging found in your drainage (literally). 

Contrary to what you may believe, the water that comes out of our faucets is not always free of impurities. Assuming that your water provider does not use a filtration or desalinization system, there is a good chance that your H2O supply has traces of minerals coming from the pumping of groundwater. They are not much of a problem until after a few months or even years, when it has collected into large chunks of hard rock that have corroded your steel pipes and blocked the flow of water.

In the worst of cases, such pipes would unfortunately have to be replaced with newer ones, especially when the clogging was a result of years of collecting and hardening. If so, ask for the assistance of a professional plumber for replacing and repairs. At AllHome’s Builders Center, we can provide the hardware and plumbing materials you will need to make your piping good as new. 

However, if the buildup is still on a manageable level, try pouring the same mixture of vinegar and baking soda used for the hair clogs into the drainage, as the acidity should clear up the mineral clogging.

And with the dirt and grime now in the clear, your cooking and sanitary can proceed smoothly once again. But, as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, so be sure to keep your sink as clean and clog-free as possible to prevent any further mishaps. 

 

More hardware items await you at AllHome. Shop now at your nearest AllHome store or go to www.allhome.com.ph to conveniently shop online!

 

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Thanks again for reading, and see you again in our next blog entry!

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