Clogged Bathroom Sink

Amazingly those small plungers you find in the supermarket work well for sink and bathtub clogs. I have 3 young children and am constantly having to unclog something.

We had this problem and the hair clog would not dissolve with liquid plumber type products. We got a drain auger (AKA "snake")at home depot for about $7 or $8. My husband is not the most handy and it was still fairly easy to do. I also saw a disposable drain unclogger at the same store for about $3.

The liquid plummer should work, and you do have to use two bottles and follow the directions to the letter....Unless there is something really wrong in the pipes...is it an old plumbing system???
You could try pouring baking soda down the drain, followed by white vinegar. Let it sit a while (it will bubble like crazy) and then flush with hot water. I do that in my kitchen just to keep it clean and fresh and have heard it works for clogs.
If these two things don't work, you need a plumber (spell?)!
Good luck!

We've had many clogged sinks and usually we had to get a new pipe look under yours sink and unscrew the small elbow pipe and check and see if there is something in there like hair or even a toothbrush which we found before and that should help clear it up directly unless theres a hole in it or a leak and then the pipe will have to be replaced.
take care and good luck!
From H.

Have you tried baking soda & vinegar?
Pour a half cup of baking soda into the bathroom drain. Then pour one cup of vinegar into the drain on top of the soda. Allow the drain to sit undisturbed for thirty minutes. Once the time is up, carefully pour a kettle full of boiling water down the drain IF your plumbing is composed of metal piping. Otherwise, if your plumbing is made up of PVC piping,
skip the boiling water. Use hot tap water instead.

Try Drain-FX. I heard about it on the Gary Sullivan show and it cleared my drains easily & effectively. It turns your faucet into a mini pressure washer...no need for chemicals. I bought it online. Great plumbing tool.

My husband recently used the toilet plunger and it worked like a charm!

sound like you need to get your drain snaked. using the liquid plummer to often can really hurt the pipes. but the plumber cant fix it for 24 hour after you've used the chemical stuff. i guess it's dangerous. regular plumbers wont normally do the snaking thing so you have to call roto-rootter or some place like that. good luck.

Hi A.
Try good old fashion bleach.
Good Luck
J.

A.-
you could try pouring some baking soda down the drain and then vinegar. let it sit for 15 minutes and then flush teh drain with boiling water.

If you have a Home Depot near you, they carry an excellent product for unclogging drains. The product's name is ZEP, and you can find it in the plumbing department for around $10. It come in a white or red plastic jug..you should buy the white one, as that seems to work much better and much more quickly.

We live in a fairly old house, and our pipes frequently get clogged. We've never had a clogged drain that this product wouldn't open! Just pour a coffee can full of it directly into the clogged drain, then let it sit in there for an hour or two, without running any water. In two hours, Turn your hot water spigot on, and within 5 minutes your drain will be just like new!

Just as another point of note, if you're drains ever get clogged when no stores are open, sometime pouring in a large bottle of Coco-Cola will do the trick. I found that REALLY SCARY! If Coca-Cola can open up a clogged drain, then what does it do to our stomaches when we drink it?????

At work we use liquid dish soap, bleach, and hot water.
Mix it in a bucket and slowly pour it down.

Nanc

sinks get clogged easily.. go under the sink.. put paper towel down.. and take off the curved pipe.. it should twist off.. the stuff gets caught in that area... wait until you take it off.. wait until you see the stuff that has accumulated in their.. wow.. i can't believe it.. when I clean mine out.. take it off.. clean it out.. put it back on.. and the clog should be gone.. it's really not hard to take apart.. good luck

A cup of salt and cup of baking soda. put that in the drain then poor in a kettle of steaming hot water.
If that doesnt work....call the plumber.

If there is no water in the sink, I saw this on DIYnetwork.com. Use a bottle of Naer depillatory. You know the stuff you use on your legs. This guy said his wife tried it and it worked. I'd empty in down the drain and give it some time 5-10 mins. Then rinse.

I have long, thick hair so when my sink gets clogged it's usually clogged with my hair. I take a q-tip and stick it in the opening of the drain and twirl it around and around until I feel it grabbing onto hair. Then, when it gets harder to turn, I pull it out! It comes out all nasty full of hair and what not and then I do it again with a clean q-tip and repeat until the q-tip comes out clean. Of course, with 2 boys maybe your problem is not hair but I thought I would offer my 2 cents anyway. : )

Hi A. - If you can, remove the stopper. Then if you have anything long enough to reach the first turn (the elbow) with a little "hook" on the end (a wire coat hanger cut, then the end hooked up is good - make sure it's small enough to pass down the sink pipe. Gently insert, twist, and pull up. Sounds like a lot of hair. They have drains you can put over the stopper in the future to block the hair from going down and they're easy to clean. Good Luck, I. J.

I always use Drano MAX Gel, its in a red bottle. And I've never needed more than half a bottle to get the drains clear.
You could also try a plunger to help clear the drain. They make them smaller for sinks.
Good Luck!

Hi,
Go to your local plumbing supply store and get Glugg. This stuff is the best! Good luck.

I have use Max Gel and boiling hot water then use a plunger. works great

Believe it or not...I use baking powder. Just dump some in the drain area and turn hot water on slow and the baking powder will bubble and losen clog.....worked like a charm on my tub and sink!!! Let me know if it works!!

What we do is use a ordinary toilet plunger. Just fill with water and plunge away. Works like a charm. It puts pressure behind it and pushes the clog away. We bought a seperate one to use just for that. The toilet one just grosses me out! Hope this works. Much cheaper then the liquid plumber.

Hi A.,

Snake the sink first then use the drano at night so you could leave it alone without water a good amount of time. In the morning pour hot boiling water this should do it. I have to do this about every 3 months to my tub because of all the hair. Use the copper tone color drano. It should say snake on it. But you should really snake it first. Good Luck! :)

Hi, I have the same problem. I use a snake for clogged sinks. It works really well and you can get it at any hardware shop. It's also nice not to have use those awful chemicals. Good luck.