Unclogging drains may be an unappealing notion. Sometimes you have no choice on the matter, however. Here are some easy ways to unclog a drain yourself.
First, find a liquid drain product that works with your plumbing equipment. Some drain cleaners can only be used with certain systems. Check the drain cleaners labels before buying the product to make sure it is compatible to your system.
Also be sure if you are using a drain cleaning product that you take extra care when handling them. Some cleaners shouldn’t be mixed with one another due to the chemicals that are in them. Be sure to never mix cleaning products.
If you have put down chemicals down your sink, you shouldn’t unscrew the trap. If the drain is still clogged, the better option is to try vacuuming it up. Chemicals that have been sitting in a sink can become pretty powerful and will have more of a possibility of harming you when the trap comes loose.
The best way to unscrew a sink trap is to loosen the end nuts. Some nuts can be taken off by hand, but many of them will need to be loosened with a pipe wrench. Keep a bucket nearby to catch any liquid that comes free of the trap.
If you are looking for something lost down the drain, stop the water flow down the sink immediately. That way the item will be stuck in the trap and not lost down the water line. Remove the P or S trap and spill all the contents in the bucket before setting the trap aside.
If you can’t find your valuable after sifting through the contents of the bucket, it might still be stuck inside the trap. Sometimes they get caught on the slime and buildup in the piping. Hold the trap over the bucket and run some water through the trap to see if it could still be in there.
Before you put the trap back in place, check if any of it shows signs of damage. If the trap or nuts are misshaped or damaged, replace them. It is much better to fix them now than to deal with a leaky sink later.
