We’ve all been there, you watch the water in your sink just sitting there and not flowing freely down the drain, the bathroom has a funny smell to it and the shower leaves you ankle-deep in water. There’s a clog somewhere in the system. So you head out to buy a commercial cleaner to get things moving. 

Your local hardware store and supermarket have shelves filled with drain cleaning products. They promise quick results and shiny, clean pipes without the hassle but how do drain cleaners work and could they be a solution to your water flow problems? 

First, let’s look at the sorts of products you can buy. 

Caustic Cleaners

Cleaners that include ingredients like lye work by creating a chemical reaction when they hit built-up grease and dirt in your pipe. This helps melt through the problem and makes it easier for water to dissolve the blockage. Good for the kitchen but not much use in the shower. While this might be fine in some pipes, if yours are made of PVC plastic this heat generation can cause problems. Warping, leaking and other breakages can lead to expensive leaks so it’s not a good idea to use caustic chemicals if you can avoid them. 

Acid based cleaners

Anything that has the word acid written on it should always be used carefully. For obvious reasons. They are harsh and can easily eat away the surface of your pipework, not to mention they’re very bad for your health if inhaled. For these reasons, we don’t recommend using them full stop. 

Oxidising foam cleaners. 

These are common products used to clean small shower blockages and can work if the problem is very minor. They work in a similar way to caustic cleaners but are usually a little more gentle. You’ll normally see chemicals like bleach and nitrate-based ingredients in these products. 

Repeated exposure to harsh cleaners and harmful chemicals can harm your pipes, are bad for the environment and can damage your health. Not to mention they can often be more expensive than you think. 

Simple, home solutions

Some people swear by the simplest combination of household ingredients to break apart blockages. Baking soda and vinegar. You pour the soda into the pipe, leave it overnight then pour in the vinegar, wait a bit and then run some water through. Often quite effective at getting your water flowing again it’s rarely a perfect solution. 

That’s where a good pipe cleaning service comes in. When you’ve got a serious clog it’s worth doing things properly and getting a professional to come and sort out the issue. Modern firms use hydro jet cleaners to push through the blockage with pressurised water and require no harsh cleaners or dangerous chemical reactions. Just natural H2O.

If you’re looking for a certified, trained drain cleaning service that’s local to your area we can help. The drain cleaning service is available 24/7 so get in touch today.