Causes of Clogged Drains That Don’t Drain
Whether you’ve taken a shower and your ankles are underwater, or your kitchen or bathroom sink takes forever to drain, here’s what’s causing the clog and some tips on what to do today if your drains running slow or not at all.
What are some causes of a clogged drain?
Clogged drains can be caused by various factors, often due to a buildup of materials that obstruct the water flow.
Some common causes of clogged drains include:
- Hair: Hair accumulates in drains over time, especially in bathroom sinks, showers, and bathtubs, creating a tangled mass that obstructs water flow.
- Grease and fat: In kitchen sinks, grease, fat, and oil from cooking can solidify and stick to the pipe walls, gradually narrowing the pipe’s diameter and causing blockages.
- Food particles: Food scraps not correctly disposed of can accumulate in the drain, contributing to blockages.
- Soap scum: Soap residue can combine with minerals in hard water to create a solid deposit, known as soap scum, that can block drains.
- Foreign objects: Small toys, sanitary products, or paper towels can accidentally enter the drain and cause a blockage.
- Mineral buildup: In areas with hard water, calcium, and magnesium can build up inside pipes, narrowing their diameter and restricting water flow.
- Tree roots: Tree roots can infiltrate underground pipes, growing inside and causing blockages.
- Pipe scale: Corrosion and sediment can accumulate on the inner walls of pipes, eventually obstructing water flow.
- Collapsed or damaged pipes: Damaged or deteriorated pipes can collapse, obstructing the flow of water and causing blockages.
Regular drain maintenance and proper disposal of waste can help prevent clogged drains. If a clog does occur, using a plunger, drain snake, or chemical drain cleaner can often resolve the issue. A professional plumber may be needed to remove the blockage or repair damaged pipes in more severe cases.
Soap: The Silent Drain Clogger
When it comes to bathroom drains and basins, the typical cause is a combination of soap and hair. Whether it’s gel-based shaving cream, liquid soap for washing hands, or shampoo in the tub, they all have the same thing: they are sticky. Whether your drains are metal or plastic or some combination, soap creates a plaque equivalent to folks with blocked arteries in their heart over time. In both cases, the usual reason is not treating your pipes with care.
Adding human hair that naturally falls out during shampooing or shaving and hair/soap clogs happen even faster. That’s because the soap and hair together form a thick plaque that sticks to the walls of the drain pipes, slowly making the available space for water to flow through smaller and smaller.
Another place soap can create the same problem is when pumping dirty water from a washing machine in a basement sink or directly into the same water flow line. The soap mixes in the washer with fibers from clothing to create a similar plaque. However, the drain rarely clogs because the soap comes out with hot water. The soap doesn’t get the chance to solidify or stick to the drain pipe because the hot water washes it through. Even with a cold water rinse, there is very little soap and soap, with fabric bits left to clog the line.
Grease is the Word
In the kitchen, whether directly through the sink drain or through the dishwasher drain, we’re dealing with soap; only this time, the soap is combined with grease from normal cooking. Grease and cooking oil is worse than soap alone because they solidify as they change the temperature from hot to cold. Add bits of food and cooking ingredients that are washed either by hand in the sink or in the dishwasher, and you’re on the way to another clogged drain.
Seriously STOP! If you are reading this and thinking about your ankle-deep water in the shower, or the kitchen sink drain that takes an hour to empty, you might be compelled to run out and purchase a liquid drain cleaner. STOP! These products are TOXIC, POLLUTING, and
POTENTIALLY SERIOUSLY HARMFUL TO YOU. Here’s why.
Popular liquid or chemical drain cleaners fall into three categories:
1) Strong caustics (Lye or Sodium Hydroxide),
2) Strong acids (Sulfuric acid)
3) Enzymes
The first two do not work well on clogs made mostly of grease. But they are very good on grease mixed with organic materials like hair. They react to digest the protein in the hair and make a very soluble muck. Caustics and acids tend to release heat when mixed with water. This heat softens the grease plug and is probably more effective than any chemical reaction with the grease itself. Enzyme cleaners contain enzymes that decompose organic grease (like lard or bacon grease) and enzymes to digest the proteins. These are the most effective (and less environmentally harmful) products.
If you MUST use this quick fix, please be sure to use the following safety tips:
- Wear Eye Protection
- Wear Rubber Gloves
- Wear Long Sleeve shirts to avoid getting any splashed product on your skin
- Open windows for ventilation
- Follow the instructions on the product label regarding how much to use, and how long to wait before flushing with water, and do not get close to the drain since toxic vapors will likely be expelled during the chemical process.
- Mike’s Safety Tip: If you MUST use one of these products, run HOT water for at least 10 minutes before putting any body parts near the clogged drain.
A Much Safer and Longer Lasting Solution
No matter how hard you try, over time, slow drains clogged by soap, grease, and hair will eventually lead to an outright stopped drain. Drain line snakes sold by home improvement stores don’t go deep enough to flush your system truly.
Make life easy by including drain cleaning as a part of regular maintenance in your home or business. Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC technicians can remove all built-up soap, grease, and other clogging components by using professional tools and a logical process of where to start and where to finish to ensure your pipes, traps, and sewers are clear and performing at optimum performance. It’s inexpensive to prevent slow and completely clogged drains without dealing with toxic, polluting, and harmful products.
Call Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC today at 201-343-1414 or email us at info@mucciaplumbing.com and schedule a drain cleaning service. Do it once a year. Think of it as a birthday present to your home or business. You’ll be happy you did.
About Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC
Exclusively Serving Bergen County, New Jersey
Michael Muccia is a Master Plumber and the owner and operator of Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC. Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC is a full-service Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) service company based in and serving Bergen County, NJ, since 1978. The Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC team of trained and certified service technicians offers various services, including general plumbing and heating maintenance, for residential and commercial clients.
Whatever your plumbing, heating, air conditioning, or ventilation needs are, it’s easier with Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC. We treat our customers, large and small, with the best service in the industry. We know you have a choice when considering an HVAC company, and no matter what we do for you, we treat it as the most crucial job in our history. Our experience proves that we know how to work efficiently, which keeps costs low, uses only the best components within budget, and stands behind the work we do.
Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC has locations in the following areas:
Hackensack | Hillside | Ramsey | Waldwick | Maywood | Tenafly
