How to Clear a Clogged Drain

Facing a clogged drain can sometimes be a stressful experience for every household. You don’t just need to spend money for the services of a plumber but will waste time. However, it should not drain your energy as well because there are practical solutions that you can apply first before asking for help from your friendly handyman.

If you have a few of the needed tools such as a cable auger or plumber’s snake, a closet auger, an electric power auger and the plunger, then solving this dilemma can be done in no time. Here’s how.

Cable Auger

The cable auger can help in dislodging clogs that are located down the pipe. It is a flexible steel cable that is set up around a spool. It is also known by the moniker plumber’s snake. Most of these may reach up to 100 feet in length, but around 25-foot models are enough to deal with most clogs down the drain.

Closet Auger

The closet auger, which is designed to snake out toilets. Similar to the cable auger, it can be operated using a hand crank but covered with a rigid shaft instead of spool. This is made perfectly to fit through the tightly designed curves of the toilet traps.

Electric Power Auger

The electric power auger that is built to deal with huge clogs located away from the fixture. This type of machine is large enough to cut through any clog or even tangled roots.

Plunger

The plunger is the one used by many plumbers. This type of equipment will be able to clear out most fixtures, which include sinks, toilets and tubs. It would be nice to keep one of these tools at home to get rid of nasty clogs in a flash.

There are many other options that you can try out at home. In fact, a lot of chemicals can be used to clear the drain without using hand tools. If you are not so comfy with the tools mentioned earlier, perhaps you can also apply one or two of these items to solve your problem.

Additional Alternatives

Baking soda, boiling water, and vinegar are the popular choices of people who opt to use chemicals instead of tools. However, it would be quite necessary that you have the right knowledge to utilize them.

For example, the baking soda will require the mixture with vinegar in order to work. This combination will allow the components to build a foam which should be followed by boiling water to make it effective.

Likewise, pouring boiling water down the clogged drain will only be effective if you add salt in order to allow the clog to break up easily. Without doing so, a different outcome will happen or might just worsen the situation.

Keeping your homes free from clogged drains can be very easy if you know how. Once you get used to it, there is no reason for you to spend additional dollars just by calling a plumber to fix it. Not only have you saved money, you also learned a thing or two in making your home a much better place to live in.

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