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natural drain cleaners

Natural drain cleaning techniques for Swansea, IL residents

Use these drain cleaning techniques for safe DIY plumbing

You’re just finishing up dishes when you notice that instead of draining, your sink has just been holding the water. Now, with a sink full of dirty water, you’re left to wonder what went wrong. Unfortunately, there are many things that could be slowing down your drain or causing a complete blockage. Clogged drains can lead to busted or leaking pipes, higher water bills and more plumbing problems. It’s important that you clear the blockage immediately. However, with all the chemical drain cleaners out there, it can be difficult to tell what’s good for your system and what’s bad.

Chemical Drain Cleaners v. Natural Drain Cleaners

It’s the age-old question when it comes to drain cleaning, natural or chemical? While it’s easy to drive to the store and pick up a bottle that says ‘drain cleaning’ on it, it’s much better for your system to use natural drain cleaning techniques. In fact, the harsh chemical used in store-bought drain cleaning products could actually be doing more damage than good including causing damage to pipes that could lead to further leaks and breakages. It really is best to use the following natural drain cleaners to help you solve your problem:

Drain Snake

It can be your best friend when it comes to drain clogs in the kitchen or bathroom. It allows you to reach far down into your drain to clear minor blockages that are causing slow drains. However, if the blockage is too far down, you may need help from a professional with access to commercial equipment.

Wire Hanger

Don’t have a drain snake? Use the next best thing! By straightening a wire hanger with a small hook on the end, you can create your own drain snake to clear minor clogs from bathrooms, kitchens, etc.

Boiling Water

One of the best natural drain cleaners in simply boiling water. Many times, pouring boiling water down the drain will help dissolve blockages without any assistance at all.

Plunger

Another common household tool that you can use is the plunger. That’s right – a plunger isn’t just for the toilet. It can help clear blockages in any drain including the kitchen, laundry room, etc.

Baking Soda & Vinegar

It’s seemingly everyone’s first chemistry experiment, and it stands to reason that this could help clear the drains. However, it truly is more fizzing bubbles than something that’s actually working, but it won’t hurt anything to try.

Dish Liquid

By pairing dish liquid with boiling water, you have a pretty powerful natural drain cleaner. The dish liquid acts as a degreaser while the boiling water works to dissolve built-up fats, grease, etc.

Plumber

There’s nothing more natural than calling another living person to solve your problem. An experienced plumber will know just what it takes to unclog your system in no time.

Top drain cleaning techniques for your Maryville, IL home

There’s nothing worse than a clogged drain. If it’s in the kitchen, you’ll have a tough time washing dishes. If your shower drain is clogged, you’ll have to take every shower in a pool of standing water. So, what can you do to clear out the clogged drain in your Maryville, IL, home? Here are some of the top drain cleaning techniques to keep your system running smooth!

Cleaning the Trap

One of the easiest ways to clean a clogged drain is to simply unclog the P trap in your sink. Your sink’s P trap serves two important purposes: keeping sewer gas out of your home and preventing clogs from occurring too deeply within your plumbing. Often times, simply detaching this P trap and cleaning the debris out of it will fix your clogged drain.

Using an Auger

There are some tools that every adult should own at some point in their life, and a drain auger or plumber’s snake is one of those tools. An auger is a long piece of steel cable on a spool that you can work down your drain to remove clogs. For residential purposes, an auger with 25 feet of cable should suffice.

Enzymesplumber maryville il

For a long time, many people thought the best solution to unclogging a drain was to pour some Drano in there. Unfortunately, using chemicals like Drano to unclog your drain can actually cause more problems than it fixes. Drano is not only bad for your pipes; it’s dangerous to you and the environment.

So, what’s the solution if you shouldn’t use Drano to unclog your drain? Well, the best solution is a drain cleaner that uses enzymes instead of harsh chemicals to unclog your drain. These enzyme-based drain cleaners eat away at the debris clogging your drain but not the pipes.

Boiling Water

If you have metal pipes, often times simply pouring some boiling water down the drain will help to loosen up debris and unclog pipes. This isn’t recommended with all types of pipe, though.

Professional Help

Unclogging a drain can be tough, and some of these solutions may not work depending on the cause of your clogged drain. If you’re having trouble unclogging a drain in your Maryville, IL, home using the above methods, call Morrison Plumbing, Heating and Air at [hls_phone_number]. We have the knowledge and tools to find the root of your drain clog and get your drain back in working order.

What are the dangers of using chemical drain cleaners at my Granite City, IL home

If you are having plumbing problems in your home in Granite City, IL, you might be tempted to pour some chemical drain cleaner down the drain to see whether that resolves the issue. However, chemical drain cleaners are not always the right tool for the job. In addition, they can present serious risks to both people and property. Here are some of the main dangers to watch out for when using chemical drain cleaners in your Granite City home.

  1. Health Risks

Drain cleaners contain chemicals that can damage your health. If you spill drain cleaner on your hand, the corrosive chemicals could irritate or even burn your skin. Getting the drain cleaner in your eyes is even more dangerous. Wearing gloves and being careful not to put the product anywhere near your eyes can help to protect you, but you still need to worry about the fumes released by the drain cleaner. These fumes can hang around for a while after you use the cleaner, so you will need to open a window to protect your lungs and airways.

  1. Risks to Plumbingdrain clog granite city il

The corrosive properties in some cleaners actually damages the pipes. Depending on the type metal pipes and their age, chemical cleaners corrode pipes. Natural drain cleaners aren’t necessarily any safer, as they still contain strong acids that can spoil the finish on your sink or bathtub.

  1. Risks to the Environment

Chemical drain cleaners are often very bad for the environment. The chemicals in these drain cleaning products can harm fish and pollute local waterways, making them inhospitable for wildlife. If you care about the environment around Granite City, IL, protect it by only using chemical drain cleaners when they are absolutely essential.

  1. Drain Cleaners Don’t Always Work

In many cases, drain cleaners don’t even work to get rid of the clog in your pipes. If your plumbing problems are caused by a blockage in the sewer line or a solid object lodged in the pipe, drain cleaner won’t help to resolve the issue.

Drain cleaning companies have far more tools in their toolboxes to resolve drain blockages. Rather than relying on drain cleaners that don’t always work to solve the plumbing problems in your Granite City, IL home, call Morrison Plumbing for help.

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