A drain pipe is a tough part of the sink. It swallows everything without creating much trouble. It will, however, behave badly if you do not take proper care of it. With all the detergent and food bits that go through the drain, sometimes the food gets stuck in the middle and this can build up over time.
That can cause even more problems like clogging of the drain just not working properly. Clogging is the worst-case scenario. Ideally, the drain should be cleaned at least once in a fortnight to avoid that.
In this blog, we will explore different ways to clean out your sink drain. We will also discuss practices that you should carry out in order to keep your drain working smoothly.
Various methods to clean a kitchen sink’s drain:
We are prescribing various methods to clean your kitchen sink’s drain. Most of them are Do It Yourself solutions with ingredients that you may easily find at home.
Ingredients like just water, baking soda, vinegar and other good stuff. We also suggest certain products that you may rely on if the naturals do not work.
We suggest you try to clean your drain with as many natural products as possible because chemical products are known for creating fumes that could be very dangerous for your health.
If none of the below mentioned ‘do it yourself’ projects work, then try to do it mechanically with the plumber’s snake. In short, chemical drain cleaner should be your last resort.
Cleaning Using Vinegar
If your drainpipe is made of good quality plastic, only then use this method. Prepare a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water. Take a pot and pour this mixture into it. Turn the heat on. In a separate pot, boil only water. Take the boiling water and pour it down the drain. Be careful about not spilling it on yourself as it may cause bad burns. After two minutes, pour the boiling mixture of vinegar and water. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then pour boiling water again. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Repeat if the drain is still clogged. End the process with pouring cold water down the drain. If you do not own vinegar and are looking for a place to buy it, click here.
Cleaning Using Baking soda and Vinegar
Pour boiling water down the drain. Add a cup full of baking soda in the drain. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then pour a cup of vinegar. After 20 minutes, pour boiling water again. Repeat the process if the drain still seems clogged.
Cleaning using Salt
Pour boiling water into the drain. Pour half a cup of salt in the drain. Let it sit for ten minutes. Then pour boiling water again and let that sit for fifteen minutes. End with pouring cold water.
Cleaning using stub pipe
A stub pipe or plumber’s snake is an instrument used to insert inside the drain to pull out the materials that might be clogging it. We suggest Drainx Pro Steel Drum Auger Plumbing Snake | Heavy Duty 25-Ft Drain Snake Cable with Work Gloves and Storage Bag (Renewed). To check it on amazon, click here.
Cleaning Using Chemical Products
Drano Max Gel Clog Remover, 80 Fl. Oz (2 Count), 2 Pack is a product that will help you in cleaning your sink’s drain. It has good reviews and is recommended by many. Click here to check it out on Amazon.
You may also try Womdee Powerful Sink and Drain Cleaner, Powder Agent for Kitchen Toilet Pipe Dredging, Hair & Grease Clog Remover, Powder Agent for Kitchen Toilet Pipe Dredging Quick Cleaning. To check it out on amazon, click here.
Cleaning Using Bleach
It is a one-step method. All you need to do is, let undiluted bleach sit in your kitchen drain for just 10 minutes. Then run it down by pouring hot water down the drain.
Cleaning Using Baking Soda
This method is for only cleaning. We do not suggest this for unclogging the drain as it might not work as well as the others prescribed above. The first step is to pour boiling water inside the drain. Next, pour 2 cups of baking soda inside it. Let that sit overnight. Next morning pour boiling water very slowly inside the drain. Let it sit for 5 minutes. In the end, flush with cold water.
How to take care of the drain
As suggested in the introduction, clogging is the worst-case scenario. If nothing else, you must at least pour hot water into your drain once every two weeks in order to flush it properly. You may also use any of the other prescribed methods once every two or three weeks to keep the drain fresh. Different drain pipes are made of different materials.
If the pipe you have can be easily crushed when you press it, then skip boiling hot water and use only hot water to clean it. Since the material is flimsy, it may get harmed instead of getting cleaned. Go slow with other harsh cleaning substances as well. We suggest you use the plumber’s snake.
If not that, go with the methods which do not involve boiling vinegar. Instead, stick with non-boiled baking soda and vinegar down the drain. There are various other professional methods such as hydro-jetting as well. In hydro jetting, they use a pressurized stream of water to unclog the drain.
Taking care of your drain also includes looking for unusual indicators served to you by your drain. For example, slow drainage is a very obvious example of a dirty drain. There are multiple other symptoms as well such as odour, rust, etc. try not to let food waste go down the drain, instead scrape it with a spoon and throw it inside the dustbin. Try to never dispose of oil or grease inside the drain as that will lead to a sticky environment. If you have done it, then to reduce damage, pour soapy hot water down the drain to make up for it.