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I have a bathroom sink that gets clogged (or the water goes down very slowly) about every 2 to 3 months.

When it gets that way, I put some Drano down and it solves the problem. My concern is that the Drano will do real damage to my pipes over time.

brhans
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Bob
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    I had a recurring drain problem that proved to be due to non-biodegradable object collecting other debris. Open your trap and have a look. – isherwood Sep 09 '22 at 21:01

3 Answers3

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Drain cleaner is mostly sodium hydroxyde (caustic soda), that's fine for your pipes. It dissolves fat and organic material, including eyes and skin, so make sure to wear safety glasses and gloves. The child-proof cap on the bottle usually requires a lot of force to open, and when you do that, if you're squeezing the bottle while fighting with the cap and it pops off, it could squirt straight into your face.

I've seen some people use acid instead, that's a very bad idea, it's just as dangerous, stinks more, corrodes some common materials like cast iron, concrete, tile grout, removes chrome plating from faucets, oxidizes copper and turns it green...

Resistance to sodium/potassium hydroxide:

In fact, besides the user, the most likely victim of alkali drain cleaner would be anodized aluminium. Caustic soda both removes the anodization and corrodes aluminium. No-one is using aluminium drain pipes, but there could be cosmetic damage to nearby objects like door handles or tile trim if it splashes on them.

bobflux
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    this actually answers the question – P2000 Sep 10 '22 at 05:42
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    There are several plumbing sites on the internet (which of course have money making agendas) that agree that repeated use of commercial drain cleaners can damage PVC and other pipe materials and/or adhesives. Therefore, I think this answer would benefit much from citing at least one solid source. – Todd Wilcox Sep 11 '22 at 03:50
  • One of the issues is that lye gets *hot* (as in, hotter than boiling water) as it does its job (or as it dissolves, if you use solid granules). PVC and ABS are pretty resistant to heat, and they're pretty resistant to bases, but repeated high temperature lye baths can do interesting things like etching glass. – AI0867 Sep 11 '22 at 11:53
  • To solve the problem, I bought a small plastic snake. I think it is called a hair snake. It did the job and now the drain is working well. – Bob Sep 15 '22 at 19:12
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According to most sites drano is not kind to plumbing, it does eat away at clogs fast, but those chemicals also touch your pipes. Using it once every few years might not do much, but every two three months is not good.

Clogs can be caused by putting stuff down the drains that collect, bad drain design(not enough slope/used of flexible pipes with ridges). Minimum slope is 1/4 inch per foot, more is better, for horizontal pipes.

For removing clogs a snake is much safer.

Should run or have a plumber run a camera down the pipes to see if anything is in there for clogs to catch on.

Plumbing system might need slope adjust so water(plus stuff) can flow more easily to main drain/sewer.

crip659
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  • Just how do you do "Plumbing system might need slope adjust so water(plus stuff) can flow more easily to main drain/sewer." – Ruskes Sep 09 '22 at 22:39
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    @Ruskes Hopefully OP's plumbing is done to code and has the proper slope, but you never know if it does. It is just a possibility. Was just a picture the other day of a bad design with a deep sink and a disposer. – crip659 Sep 09 '22 at 22:47
  • For trap plumbing, you loosen the slip nuts and adjust the slip joints, with or without trimming the male parts as needed, then tighten the slip nuts. – Ecnerwal Sep 10 '22 at 00:37
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    regarding slope "more is better": there is an upper limit determined by pipe diameter and distance from P trap to vent. More is not always better, there's a cap. – P2000 Sep 10 '22 at 05:41
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Mechanical cleaning (no Drano)

Open the P-trap under the sink.

It is only hand tied nuts, no tools needed.

It does contains about 1/2 gallon of water so have a pan to catch it.

Now you can clean the p-trap, the sink drain and part of the pipe going in the wall. That is usually where most stuff is.

You can also use a plastic snake to poke in the drain with ease, since you removed the p-trap.

Preventive measure is to have small holes sink drain cover, to catch the hair before it goes don the drain.

I do not know the Drano corrosive impact on pipes, but it does attack the metal.

Ruskes
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