Planning to Clear Blocked Drains at Home? These Mistakes Must be Avoided

You’re about to take a nice, long shower at home. You light your scented candles, do all your pre-shower rituals, and are ready to step in to indulge in your long-awaited bath.

But oh no, something’s wrong; the shampoo, conditioner, body stuff, water muck doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. You investigate a little further until you realize, yikes! The drain is clogged!

This is a common scenario, not the whole shower routine skit, of course, but yes, anybody can get their drains blocked. And if you’ve experienced one, you know that there are only a few things worse. But as terrible as this problem is, there are solutions.

Unclogging a blocked drain can be tricky business, and if you don’t do it the right way, you might as well move out. So, are you planning to clear blocked drains at home? These mistakes must be avoided.

1. Not Calling Professionals for Blocked Drains

Before you embark on doing anything yourself, you might want to consider calling up professionals for blocked drains. They are a nuisance if you leave them untreated, and a bigger menace if you don’t clear it the right way.

But if you’re ignoring the problems long enough and not getting a professional’s help, you’re creating potentially bigger and more expensive problems, you wouldn’t want that now would you?

2. Causing Chemical Catastrophe

Your first instinct to fix blocked drains is often to pour chemicals and cleansers and all the stuff you have in your cupboard into the drain. That should fix the blocked drain right up, right? Well, no, chemicals aren’t all the same, and some have ingredients that could make the clogging worse.

If the chemicals are harsher than usual, over time, it deteriorates the plumbing system and pipes, weakening the draining power. And if your drains are blocked with solids, dousing a bunch of chemicals is not going to do much except coagulating with the sludge and creating more blockage.

Unless you’re using professionals to do the job, you’re only creating more trouble for yourself and other residents of your home.

3. Plunging Probs

What’s the first thing you reach for when you get blocked drains? You grab a plunger because of course, a plunger is the perfect tool for the job, right?

Well, while plungers are great for clearing blocked drains, it will only work if you use the right type. Usually there are two types of plungers, sink and toilet. Sink plungers are shaped to plunge and unclog sinks, while toilet plungers are flatter, to reach right into it and clear the blockage.

So you need to use the correct plunger to clear blocked drains, or else, you won’t be able to fix the problem. But we will always recommend leaving the use of any specialized tools up to the pros, because even the right plunger could make things much worse.

4. Ignoring Regular Maintenance

Now this is a no-brainer, regularly cleaning and draining your drains is important to avoid blockages in the long-run. Use drain covers and throw away trash properly, don’t just chug anything down the drain.

Having professionals come by and check up on the drainage is also an important part of regular upkeep of your drainage system. If you don’t want blocked drains, regular maintenance is your one-stop solution.

5. Messing With The Drain

If you notice signs of a blocked drain, you probably went ahead and poked something to clear the blockage, which makes sense, but it can also make things a lot worse.

Poking or sticking into the drain can shove the sludge further down the drain, blocking it even further and deeper. Also, if you break the poking stick into the drain, that’s just another thing to add to the mix, ending up increasing the blockage.

That is why we cannot stress enough the importance of calling professionals to help you out. If you happen to block your already blocked drain any further, you could be creating chaos unheard of. So call up professionals before it’s too late.

6. Using Hot Water

We know it might sound contradictory, because hot water is known to unclog blocked drains, but excessive hot water can crack and weaken older pipes and make things much worse than you want them to be.

So the next time you’re getting in a nice hot shower, ignore the urge to pour some down the drain, it’s not helping.

Conclusion

There you go! We hope you enjoyed reading about these mistakes to avoid when it comes to clearing blocked drains.

Blocked drains aren’t the end of the world, but they can be complicated, and if you don’t deal with them properly, you’re likely to run into more problems than you first started with.

Calling up the professionals will save you all the trouble, so consider getting the experts’ help before your blocked drains deteriorate further. And of course, avoid the mistakes you see on the guide.

FAQs

1. Does Salt Help Clear Blocked Drains?

Ans: Well, yes, sort of, but salt alone won’t help do the job. Use coarse salt like kosher salt or sea salt with some hot water and pour it down the sink. Repeat a few times until the solution fizzes, and then flush it all down with cool water.

While this can be helpful in partially clearing out a minor blockage, it won’t rid you of the problem. That’s why you must call up professionals when you suspect any foul play with your drains.

2. Which Chemical Is Best For Blocked Drains?

Ans: Caustic soda or sodium hydroxide are good for clearing blocked drains. However, you must be careful while using it, as it will cause burns when exposed to human or animal tissues. It’s also extremely corrosive to the pipes, so you must use it sparsely.

But we must recommend you leave it to the plumbers when it comes to using harsh chemicals, because they’re well-equipped and versed about what and how much chemical to use for what type of blockage.