My bathroom sink had been draining slowing for a while and it was finally time to figure it out. I found a recipe on ThriftyFun for homemade Drano, using salt, baking soda, vinegar and water. It didn't go quite as planned but we were successful in the end.
Link: Homemade Drano
Steps:
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have a clogged sink. The water takes time to go down. I am thinking it's from hair dye. I once disposed of the remaining hair dye I was using down the bathroom sink. Could it be the hair dye I disposed of? It was 10-12-2012.
The water just started not going down in the last week. We took the drain out and used a liquid cleaning chemical a couple times. Then we took the trap off and made sure it was clean. It was. We are thinking there must be a clog from the wall pipe out. Any suggestions, please?
By JG
Hair dye is a liquid. It would not have clogged your sink. Most likely hair has clogged your sink. Have you tried using a drain cleaner such as draino or liquid plumber?
You don't say whether you live in a house or an apartment. If it's a house, I would suspect a clog in the main sewer line. Call a plumber. It could be tree roots that have grown in to your sewer pipe.
It's usually an easy fix for a plumber. They have a cutting tool that they run through your drain system and it chops away all the roots. You will probably have to get this done once every 2 years or so. I had it done for about $150.00. If you don't get it done, the roots will destroy you sewer line and you will have to have your yard dug up and the sewer pipe replaced. Very expensive!
I'm not sure what type of drain you have, but before calling a plumber (who will just run a snake down it if is just a clog), you can take a long narrow object like a kitchen knife and see if you can pull hair out. Keep pulling and pulling. Most of the time a clog is just a build up of hair and why spend the money on a plumber if you can reach it yourself?
How can one clear an extremely slow bathroom sink drain without using caustic chemicals?
By Jay from Reston, VA
Try with a mix of :
2 cups water + 1/4 cup vinegar + 2 Tsp. soup
Mix in a bottle and spray into the sink hall
Pour some Dawn dish detergent in the drain. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Follow it with a kettle of hot water and use the plunger. Put your finger in the air vent or plug the hole so the plunger can get suction. Works for me!!
Thanks to all for their suggestions. I tried the vinegar and baking soda and detergent and hot water ideas to no avail because the drain was too far gone. Finally had to use the pipe wrench solution and clean out the trap by hand, which was filled with thick black sludge. I will try the suggestions for keeping the drain clear now!
Hi, at your hardware store ask about a product that is a long flexible plastic rod that has little upward teeth on it. All you do is stick this down your drain and pull up. It is unreal what you will pull up, works great and no chemicals. Sorry i cant remember the name of it but they will know what you are talking about at the hardware store. Have a great day..Deby
I keep a plunger used only for my sinks. I usually put some Dawn or another grease cutter and add boiling water. After a few minutes, I use the plunger and it has always worked for me. I hate using chemicals.
How does one unclog a bathroom sink in which the stopper cannot be removed from the sink?
By BF
Throw in some baking soda about 1/4 cup add to that vinegar about a cup. there will be a chemical reaction which should loosen the debris clog. With that then allow hot water to rinse drain. Hope this helps.
You may have to go into the pipes under sink they should screw off have a bucket to catch water if any and clean out the pipe.Try plunging first block the overfill drain if you have one just put a small dry cloth to plug the hole.
I had a bathtub that was so slow and you could not take the plug out. From one of the catalogs I got a drain opener thing. It is yellow plastic and had jagged plastic things on the end. You snake that under the plug and I was amazed at how much hair I got out of the drain. It runs like new now. It is a very long yellow plastic. I hope you can picture this - it was really effective!
If you mean one of the metal stoppers that moves up and down with a lever on the top of the tap, or with a metal plunger, it is removable. It has a hook on the bottom that connects to a hook down in your drain, that connects to the plunger. You just have to turn it sideways to unhook it. Hooking it up again can be a problem, I have found, although my plumber friend did it for me in about 2 secs when he changed out my dripping taps.
Try plunging first. Then try something like Drano if plunging doesn`t cure the problem. If this is a bathroom sink, it likely has hair & soap scum & maybe whiskers clogging up the drain. If you can get the plug out, you can reach down with a wire hook or even an old tooth brush and scoop out the hair.
Do not bother with baking soda and vinegar. The chemical reaction that you get is merely carbon dioxide bubbles and the two products neutralizing each other, making salt water. How is that going to dissolve a hair clog!
My bathroom sinks keep clogging up, repeated use of Drano is not working. Help!
By Icu3 from Columbus
Try a foaming drain cleaner. One that says it will remove hair and sludge (gunk) such as liquid plumber.
Good luck.
It's really easy, I promise! Being that it's a bathroom sink it's probably just hair with gunk buildup clogging it. In most cases the clog is just within an inch or so below the sink level. Instead of continuing to use chemicals, especially if the pipes are not PVC, just remove the sink draining stopper, take some sort of heavy duty wire (like a wire clothes hanger) and make a small fish hook style hook at one end of the wire and then put it down the drain and start pulling the hair and gunk out. If it's one of the kind of sink stoppers that you can't get removed by turning and lifting then you'll just have to have a little more patience with maneuvering the wire down and back out with the hair and gunk build up. Take a deep breath if you have a weak stomach when you see whats doing the clogging. ;-)
When mine starts running slow I take the U joint under the sink off and clean it out as that is where most of the hair and 'gunk' builds up. Be sure to have a bucket or other sizable pot or pan to catch any water that may be there.
You need a really good plunger. I had the same trouble and a relative told me of a plunger they'd gotten that was really good. It was not one of the expensive ones either. Once I got it I tried it on my stubborn sink and "low and behold" it worked. For the first time in years after using draino etc. on the sink, my drain was working like brand new. I shudder to think how much damage I did to the pipes with all the expensive drain cleaners.
My bathroom sink is clogged. I plunge it. It drains like a tornado. Next time I use it, it is clogged again. I have also tried drain cleaners and a snake. Now what?
By SP
You may have a root growing through your underground pipe. As a former manager, I found that to be the case in more than a few incidents.
You might have something in the drain that changes position each time you plunge it. This happened to me once when unbeknownst to me a hair dryer attachment fell in the toilet and was lodged deep inside the pipe. When the cylindrical piece was in line with the pipe the toilet flushed fine. But when it tilted out alignment the toilet backed up. They had to detach the toilet from the floor to figure it out.
I have plunged, used a zip with teeth, used Draino, and even "Liquid Lighting" (virgin sulfuric acid with 12 buffers) the drain won't drain.
By Cheryl R.
How do I unclog a drain?
By Laurie
A plumber once told me if you can't clear out a drain with a plunger you need a plumber.
A bathtub normally has a trap that collects gunk going through the drain. If you can access the trap you can clean it out and your problem is solved.
A sink clogs in the pipe that is shaped like a sideways S. Sometimes this pipe is connected with easily turnable tabs/nuts and you can clean out the clog after removing it and easily put it back. It usually makes a mess when you remove it so put down some towels.
Just this week I had the kitchen sink/garbage disposal side, back up. I poured a cup of baking soda ( in both sides of the sink ) followed by about 3-4 cups of white vinegar( I just poured if from the gal. jug) in the water that was standing there and turned on the hot water and garbage disposal and that worked right away. I let the water run in the disposal and then poured a couple of tablespoonsful of liquid dish soap with it.
Worked and No Plummer bill. GG Vi
How do I unblock a bath\bathroom sink when water comes back up the bath plughole and smells disgusting?
By Mags
I use a large pot of boiling water with a good shot of dish soup. Pour in sink and let set for a min. and take a toilet plunger and push the water down the drain. You may have to do it more than once. No need for chemicals.
My son dropped FLARP noise putty down the bathroom sink! Should I do anything to help remove it or should it be okay to leave the sink alone?
Should I go out and buy Draino or something? Maybe pour vinegar down the drain?This will clog your drain. But White vinegar full strength should dissolve it.
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Find the overflow outlet for the sink. Then cover the overflow outlet using duct tape or something similar. Get some water in the sink bowl and use a plunger. The tape over the overflow vents will stop air from entering as you are using the plunger. This will work for a bathtub.
To unclog a sink, tub or toilet, pour a bottle of bleach in the water over the drain and let sit. Check back in a few hours and it should be drained. Then run some hot water for a few minutes down it.
If your sink is not draining you may need to call a plumber but a good plunging may do the trick. This is a page about how do I clear standing water in bathroom sink drain?
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I have a bathroom sink that is extremely slow in draining and backs up. I've heard of certain things like boiling water and dishwasher soap poured down as a possible remedy.
I need help de-clogging my sink drain. I have a double sink, I just finished a load of clothes and both sides of the sink are clogged. Both sinks are full of water.
How to unclog bathroom sink drain, would bleach help? Water just takes too long to drain. I just hope it wont need to be taken apart. if so, maybe a little help there too.
My daughter and I have thick hair and constantly are clogging up our bathroom sink. I could not pull out the hair gunk with a tweezers because it is too deep. A light bulb went off in my head.
