10 Tips For Fixing Slow Draining Or Clogged Sink

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If we could choose what not to come back as in our next life – we’d choose a kitchen sink. Boy, do those guys never see the end of it.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve decided that a kitchen sink is the same as a trash can. Naturally, that resulted in people literally started pouring everything down the drain. From coffee grounds and tuna can oils all the way to literal pieces of leftover food – everything goes apparently.

Until, one day, it doesn’t.

Once your sink gets clogged – you’re doomed. Well, not literally because it’s not the end of the world, but you’ll soon realize just how valuable great drainage is.

However, we didn’t come here to pound you into the ground – we came to help. So, here are ten valuable tips for fixing slow-draining or clogged sinks.

1. Use The Plunger

A plunger is probably the most fun tool you have in your home – especially if you’ve never used it before. You can throw it around and have fun with it, but there comes a dark time, such as this one, when you finally have to put it to actual good use.

When it comes to clogged sinks, drains, bathtubs, toilets – you name it – the plunger is your best friend. Grab that bad boy and start pushing up and down until you hear that satisfying gulping noise.

2. Sprinkle Some Baking Soda

You’ve probably seen this a million times, but pouring baking soda in your sink can help fix some of this mess.

Dropping a few tablespoons of baking soda and letting them rest for about an hour or two might just break up some of that terrible mess down the pipes. After you’ve let it sit for an hour, just pour some hot water down the drain and hope for the best.

3. Use Vinegar

Vinegar is one of the most versatile liquids you have in your household – especially if it’s apple cider vinegar. It can make your tummy feel better, it can help you get rid of dandruff, it will make your salads taste better, and finally – it could very well unclog your drain.

Now, it’s important to note that vinegar won’t work unless your drain’s heavily clogged. After all, you do need the vinegar to sit there and do its thing for a while if you want to clog to disappear.

4. Use Coca-Cola

Coke is delicious, extremely unhealthy, and remarkable at destroying things. Honestly, pour a glass of Coca-Cola and drop a bite-sized piece of meat in it, leave it overnight and see what happens. We’ll bet you a fiver you won’t find the meat in the morning.

When it comes to clogged drains – you’re kind of hoping for the exact same thing to happen. Pour some Coke down the drain and hope it destroys anything that’s jammed in there. Once again – you’ll need a significant clog that will keep the cola in the pipes.

6. Pour Boiling Water Down The Drain

The last “pour down the drain” tip on our list is boiling hot water.

You can pour boiling hot water down the drain on its own or as a follow up to any of the previous tips – especially the one with baking soda.

One thing to keep in mind is – you shouldn’t do this if you have PVC pipes. If that’s the case, scorching hot water can make matters worse and destroy your piping.

6. Snake The Drain

What would SewerSquadPlumbing do if you called them over to unclog your drain? They would most likely snake it.

Now, we understand that you don’t have the proper equipment to adequately snake the drain, but there are probably a few things in your household that could end up being a decent DIY drain snake.

As far as we’re concerned, the best thing you could use would be an old bike chain. It’s both rigid and flexible enough so you can manoeuvre with it easily, and as such, it is a great replacement for an actual drain snake.

7. Use An Old Coat Hanger

An old coat hanger is a solid alternative if you can’t come up with an improvised drain snake.

Just cut the wire, straighten the hanger and jam it down the drain. Scrape around as much as you can and try and break up whatever’s lodged in there.

If the clog is not too severe, you should probably be able to handle this all by yourself. That is, if the problem is the sink pipes – not somewhere else.

8. Use Compressed Air

Using compressed air to unclog your drains will be very fun. However, it will also be extremely messy. We’re talking splatter and goo everywhere within a 10-feet radius. So, prepare for that.

You can buy these compressed air kits at your local hardware store. Essentially, think of these as overpowered air-guns for unclogging the drains.

You’d place them over the drain, and you’d blast the air bubble down the drain, hopefully destroying whatever was in there that was causing the problem.

10. Open Up The Pipes

If everything else ends up failing – you’ll have to do the dirty work.

This shouldn’t be too hard to do if you have PVC piping. You’ll be able to remove the pipes without any tools whatsoever and just clean them. As simple as that.

However, there’s one thing you’ll have to brace yourself for – the smell. Chances are, once you remove the pipe, you’ll be met with arguably the most pungent smell on planet Earth. So, if you’re someone that gags a lot – please wear something to cover your mouth and nose.

10. Call For Help

When everything else fails – just call for help. It’s okay to admit defeat.

If you can’t seem to fix the problem all by yourself, the only thing that’s left to do is pick up the phone, call your local plumber and have them fix the problem for you.

Bonus Tip – Don’t Mix Baking Soda And Vinegar

Contrary to what you might read on every self-help post on the internet – don’t mix baking soda and vinegar together. Apart from the foamy show – the mixture does nothing for cleaning, unclogging, or whatever else it supposedly does.

When you mix these two together, you initially get carbonic acid and sodium acetate, which might sound mighty, but they’re nothing other than a weak acid found in soft drinks and salt. What’s even worse is that carbonic acid immediately starts decomposing into water and CO2.

So, that foamy thing that’s supposedly so powerful? It’s just salty water and carbon dioxide.

Conclusion

We’ll go out on a limb and say you didn’t end up here on accident. You probably have a clogged, half-filled sink in your kitchen, just waiting for you to do something about it.

Well, now you finally can.