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How to clear a blockage in a pipe in the kitchen, bathroom, toilet bowl at home

Good afternoon friends! It can happen to each of us that the sewer pipes in the kitchen, toilet and bathroom suddenly stop functioning normally. It takes a long time to contact a plumber, and sometimes help is needed immediately. Let's become our own plumbers and find out how to quickly clear a blockage in a pipe at home with our own hands.

To combat trouble, there are a wide variety of means - the good old plunger, the repeatedly tested and effective cable, folk remedies in the form of vinegar or soda, various chemicals.

What tool to use, everyone will decide for himself, but first let's figure out why it occurs, this damn blockage.

Why does blockage occur

In most cases, we ourselves are to blame:

  • When using the sink in the kitchen, drain the remains of food, scraps and dirt into it. In addition, during the process of washing dishes, a lot of fat from the remains on the plates gets into the sewer pipe. Gradually, fat and lime deposits are deposited inside. And the larger it is, the narrower the clearance in the pipes, and as a result, a plug forms in it.
  • In the bathroom, hair and animal hair that enter the sewer after bathing often create a problem.
  • In the toilet, trouble can happen due to some hygiene products, cotton wool, paper, floor rags and other unwanted things that clog the pipe.
  • In some cases, the cause of the trouble is improper installation of pipes (especially often this happens with modern plastic pipes), violations during their installation - kinks, slopes. However, this shortcoming is revealed quite quickly after the start of operation, and it will not be possible to eliminate it on your own.
  • In old houses, cast-iron sewer pipes can become the cause of traffic jams. Over time, corrosion appears on their inner walls, they become uneven with a strong coating of rust. In such places, and this is most often a pipe segment from a sink to a bath outlet, clogging is a common thing.
  • Lack of proper maintenance and preventive cleaning of pipes.

If you notice that an unpleasant smell has appeared from the sink in the kitchen, an unpleasant smell has appeared in the bathroom, the rate of water leaving through the drain has decreased, the rise of water after draining is often noticeable in the toilet - it's time to take action before the trouble has gone too far and you have not completely lost the opportunity to use them.

How to clean pipes in the kitchen

Kitchen blockage is the most common problem that owners try to solve at home with their own hands using various means. The following devices will help you in this case:

  • Folk remedies.
  • Plunger, plumbing cable.
  • Chemical means.

Let's look at the sequence of actions so as not to damage the pipes and do it on our own, without outside help.

But first you need to find out the device of the siphon in the kitchen sink, since often the removal of a blockage can be limited to just cleaning it.

Modern bottle siphons have a diameter of 32 - 40 mm, and the smaller it is, the more often it becomes clogged with a cork. The design of these siphons at the bottom has a removable part in the form of a bottle bottom, which is quite easy to remove by hand without special tools and clean.

  1. Substitute a basin, a bucket under the sump so that water does not spill onto the floor.
  2. Unscrew the sump and remove it.
  3. With a regular wire with a hook or other device, remove all accumulated dirt from the siphon.

But often other types of siphons are installed in the sinks.

  • Pipe - made in the form of a curved tube.
  • Corrugated - they are used in non-standard conditions, because they bend easily.
  • Siphon with overflow - with a special hole for draining excess liquid.
  • Double and triple siphons - they are installed by connecting a washing machine and dishwasher to the sink.

Well, if you are unlucky, and you are not the owner of a removable siphon, we turn to more radical means of dealing with blockages.

Folk remedies for cleaning pipes

Simple, and absolutely harmless for pipes of any kind, have long been well-proven folk remedies for removing blockages.

  1. If the plug is not too tightly set, the following action will help: pour boiling water into the drain hole if the pipes are steel. Plastic can be spilled simply with hot water, running it at full power. Check the result after 20 minutes. If it doesn't work, try other methods.
  2. Lemon acid. Dissolves lime deposits well. Pour into the drain 50 gr. means and pour a glass of boiling water on top. After 10 - 20 minutes, pour with a powerful stream of water.
  3. Salt with soda. Perfectly removes fatty deposits in the pipes. Dissolve salts and soda in hot water - you should get a very concentrated solution. Pour into the drain and after half an hour work with a plunger to help remove the plug. Then rinse with strong water pressure.
  4. They say that soda calcined in a dry frying pan, and then used for its intended purpose (diluted with water), then the efficiency increases significantly.
  5. An unusual way is with a vacuum cleaner with a reverse blowing function. Lucky, and the function is available, wrap the vacuum cleaner tube with a rag, firmly install it directly into the hole in the sink. And break through the blockage with a strong air stream. Instead of a rag, you can use a rubber cup from a plunger.

Cleaning pipes soda And vinegar

Pour into the drain hole 150 gr. baking soda, and pour the same amount of 9% vinegar on top. To prevent the resulting foam from flying out (and a very violent process of a chemical reaction will begin), close the hole with a stopper.

With no less efficiency, soda can be replaced with the well-known Alka-Seltzer tablets. For cleansing, you will need a couple of tablets, after which you need to pour a glass of vinegar. After 2 minutes, run hot water at full power. In addition to the main work - removing the cork, the drug will save the sink from an unpleasant odor.

Soda ash. A tool whose success was tested back in Soviet times, when there was no such variety of means to get rid of trouble. Pour 100 soda and leave for half an hour. Then rinse with strong water pressure.

Cleaning pipes with baking soda, vinegar and chlorine

This method of removing the cork is used for severe blockage. It is not completely harmless to people, but is considered one of the most effective options for getting rid of body fat and limescale in pipes.

  1. Open windows.
  2. Remove excess water from the sink.
  3. Pour into the drain hole 50 gr. food and soda ash.
  4. After half an hour, pour 150 ml. vinegar and 150 ml. bleach with bleach and plug the hole with a cork (rag).
  5. Exit the room.
  6. After 30 minutes, flush the drain with plenty of water.
  7. Don't forget to ventilate the room well.

We remove the blockage with a plunger and a cable

In some cases, before moving on to folk remedies, it is worth trying to get rid of pipe blockages with the help of mechanical cleaning.

At home, even the fairer sex, who do not have much strength in their hands, can quickly break through the cork with a plunger.

  • Pour water into the kitchen sink, press the wide part of the appliance firmly against the drain and press firmly several times. The hydraulic pillar that will be created in this case will push through the cork and break it into several parts. You just have to wash the dirt with a powerful pressure of water.
  • If your sink has two sections, then you need to arm yourself with two plungers at once and break through the blockage, working at the same time. That is, in any case, if you clean the cork in one section, then the drain of the second must be very tightly closed. There are no two plungers - plug the hole with a rag or hold it with your hand.

Cleaning the pipe with a plumbing cable

A strong blockage is more effectively broken through with a special cable. This device is made of a durable metal cable, on one end of which there is a special handle, and on the other - a brush. Sequence of actions: insert the cable into it, as deep as possible, with the end with a brush, and slowly begin to turn the cable by the handle.

Important: movements must be directed first away from you so that the cork pushes into the thick part of the sewer pipe, then towards you so that the cork breaks into pieces - this will speed up the process. From time to time, spill the blockage with water to wash off the freed dirt.

Attention! The cable cleaning method is more suitable for metal pipes, in part it even removes accumulated rust. For plastic, this option is not acceptable - it can damage the inner surface.

There is no cable on the farm - make a device out of thick wire by bending one end of it with a hook.

How to clear a blockage in the bathroom

Removing a blockage in a bathtub at home is somewhat more difficult than in a sink - it is difficult to get up from below and disassemble the structure. Therefore, it will be faster and more practical to use folk remedies, read their detailed description above.

In a critical situation, you will have to resort to the help of a plunger and a metal cable.

How to clean a toilet with a plastic bottle

Do not rush to invite a specialist to clean a clogged toilet, there are several ways when you can easily handle it yourself. A “bearded” anecdote came to mind when a plumber, getting dirty during cleaning, indignantly says to the owners: “Are you shitting there, or what?”.

For example, there are such non-standard solutions to the problem, among them cleaning the blockage with an ordinary plastic bottle.

  • Take a regular plastic soda bottle and a sharp knife.

Procedure:

  1. Cut off the bottom of the bottle, but leave the cork screwed on.
  2. With the cut end, plunge the bottle into the toilet, into the clogged drain.
  3. Dip the bottle sharply several times - the action is very similar to working with a plunger. The principle of hydraulics works here in the same way - there is a blow that sharply increases the pressure on your side of the blockage. The pressure difference on the other side of the blockage will push the plug into the riser.

By the way, a regular floor cloth can be a good alternative to a bottle. To get rid of the cork with it, wet it and, folding it several times, tightly plug the toilet. Then take a mop or any stick and make some sharp movements down the center of the rag to get the same water hammer.

Chemistry in the fight against clogged pipes

If all of the above methods did not help, it's time to move on to household chemicals. The stores offer a wide range of all kinds of drugs and it is worth a little understanding of their line. This:

  • Acid.
  • Alkaline.
  • Liquid and gel.
  • Dry, loose.

What to pay attention to

  • Consider the material from which your pipes are made - not all products are suitable for all types, so always carefully study the instructions. Stop at universal ones, such as Mole.
  • Usually liquid products act more gently, by the way, they are more convenient to use.
  • The use of bulk presupposes undoubted adherence to the instructions, they almost always offer to pour boiling water over it, if you don’t do it, the powder can harden.
  • Always wear gloves, do not lean over the plumbing equipment, after adding the product to it - a lot of heat is generated during the chemical reaction. In addition, the contents may splash out of the drain.

Good luck to you, my dear, in the fight against blockages. Well, if none of the proposed methods helped, call a plumber. To help you with a video, it is possible that the process of cleaning sewer pipes will become clearer to you. With love… Galina Nekrasova.