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Yep, keep the hair out. If you have one of those annoying pop up drains, as most houses do now, you'll have to take it apart to clean out what hair hangs up on it. Personally, I like to toss those out and use a screen and a rubber plug for the rare instance when I want a sink full of water. Tubs and showers likewise, use a screen if at all possible.
The other culprit is often soap scum in the pipes. Dump a pan full of hot, hot water down the drain now and then to help with that. Sinks are especially prone to this. I've had slow draining bath sinks improved by regular hot water purges, though it takes several if the drain has gotten to the point of slowing down significantly.
For a clogged toilet, one of the old plumber tricks I learned is a generous shot of dish soap, let that soak for a while, then a bucket of hot, hot water. That one has been very handy last few years, since many low flow toilets have bowl shapes less friendly to plungers. The upside of the low flows though, I haven't ever had one of them overflow when clogged.
Once a week, fill the sink with hot water full to the overflow hole. Make sure the overflow is flowing. If its not, then use a plastic straw or a long zip tie to clean it out. The hit the drain to empty the sink. The full sink of water creates a little head pressure and kind of forces water down the drain, flushing little clogs down.
If you do this regularly, clogs don't have a chance to start. If the sink IS clogged, try to clean it out by removing the drain stopper, and clear out the hair and gunk. Then flush with lots of hot water.
What you may think is clogged plumbing is usually the pop up rod gathering hair and soap. It eventually starts to stink. Go under the sink. Remove clip on strap holding the rod. [remember the hole it is in] Unscrew where rod goes in drain pipe, Remove rod with ball. In sink, remove pop up. If you remove the drain part from the sink, you will need a small amount of plumbers putty.
It is no big deal to clean it out if it clogs. Just unscrew the pop up bar and clean out the pop out aparatus or if it is the drain just unscrew the P trap and empty it out.
Put just a few oz.s of commercial drain cleaner in the drain which ends up in the trap which is in every bathroom drain. Overnite or a few hours later I follow up with two cups of boiling water. Let it sit. Works.
Stay away from lye. Poisonous and eats the plumbing.
Last edited by Mistermobile; 12-07-2014 at 09:05 AM..
Reason: More
I use a plastic gizmo called a "zip-it" to remove hair gunk out of the sink and shower traps whenever I notice that they're started to drain slowly. It's basically a long strip of flexible plastic with barbs to catch the hair as you pull it out. No need to disassemble the plumbing to take out the pop-up, etc. No nasty chemicals.
I use a plastic gizmo called a "zip-it" to remove hair gunk out of the sink and shower traps whenever I notice that they're started to drain slowly. It's basically a long strip of flexible plastic with barbs to catch the hair as you pull it out. No need to disassemble the plumbing to take out the pop-up, etc. No nasty chemicals.
I use that method. It may be a little hassle and gunky, but no chemicals.
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