Nothing throws your daily routine off worse than discovering a blocked sink drain in your home. From water slowly trickling down the drain, to a full and complete stoppage, a clogged drain can lead to stagnant water, unpleasant odors, and a general frustration anytime you use your sink. 

It’s important to note that the best way to get rid of clogs is to avoid draining them. Think of your sink like your home in general. If you take the effort to, say, wash your windows regularly, you’ll probably save yourself the effort and cost of replacing those windows when that accumulated grime causes damage. 

The same goes for your sink. If you don’t take basic precautions, like using a drain-grate or making sure not to pour grease or coffee grounds down your drain, you’ll prevent clogs and the risk of more serious damage to your plumbing that can cost you more in the long-run. Also if you are interested, here you may check jobs for plumber helper.

One way this damage can present itself is the use of harmful chemicals to unclog drains. Most households, when facing the challenge of a clogged sink tend to reach for the nearest chemical drain cleaner. While this might resolve your issue, these cleaners can also produce toxic fumes and can actually cause physical damage to your water pipes. 

Thankfully, if you do encounter a clogged sink, there are several home remedies that can help take care of your problem, and get your sink running smoothly once again, without causing permanent damage. 

Boiling Water

When you find yourself with a slow drain, the first thing you should do is the simplest and easiest— flush the drain with boiling water. If that seems too easy, you’d be pleasantly surprised! Many minor clogs can easily, and cleanly, be taken care of with a quick flush of superheated water, which can clear out many minor blockages with ease. 

Before pouring water down the drain, make sure to check what material your pipes are made of. If you have metal pipes, you have nothing to worry about, but PVC can start to soften or melt at the joints when exposed to temperatures over 175 degrees. If you have PVC, or aren’t sure, just use water as hot as the tap can make it. Today'scave.com goes through kitchen sinks in detail, as well as all you need to know about maintaining a clean sink for a long time without spending a lot of money.

If boiling water doesn’t work, it’s time to move on to more intensive efforts. Your next step should involve...

Vinegar, Baking Soda, and Salt

Vinegar is a secret weapon in every kitchen that’s useful for more than adding a kick of acidity to a recipe. It’s also a very effective (and environmentally friendly) cleaner. Vinegar can be used to make a cheap window cleaner, as a weed killer, and it can even cut through mildew.

Vinegar’s unique properties (usually 5-8% of vinegar, by volume, is acetic acid) that make it so useful as a cleaner and disinfectant also help it attack stubbornly blocked sink drains, with a little help from some friends, of course. Those friends would be baking soda, salt, and boiling water.

The “recipe” is simple. First, mix ½ of a cup of baking soda, along with ¼ of a cup of basic table salt, and toss that down your affected drain. Then, pour one cup of vinegar (you’ll get better results if you heat up the vinegar first, but it’s not essential). Almost immediately you’ll hear fizzing and bubbling from the chemical reactions occurring.

Leave everything alone for the next fifteen minutes, and run hot water from the tap. This should clear out the vinegar/salt/baking soda mixture, and hopefully will result in a freely running sink. 

If the clog persists, however, it’s time to try some more intensive approaches. 

Using a Plunger

It might not occur to you that a plunger can be used on a sink as well as, um, other areas, but many a clogged sink can find relief through this simple tool. You’ll want to make sure you have a cup-shaped plunger, and not a flanged one, as the latter won’t form a proper seal over your clogged drain.

The approach here is very straightforward. Make sure to remove any strainers or objects in or around the drain, and ensure that you have a clean, airtight fit that is completely covering the drain. Then simply use “pump” the plunger using fast, sharp movements. Occasionally test to see if the clog has been resolved, and if not, keep plunging. 

If, however, plunging doesn’t seem to cause any improvement in the flow of your sink, you’ll need to move on to the next step.

Snaking Your Drain

Snaking a drain can be pretty daunting for the average homeowner. It involves purchasing tools, such as a drum auger, that you might not encounter normally. These can range in price from ten dollars for a very basic model to hundreds of dollars for more advanced, sophisticated augers. 

A 25-foot drum auger will likely suit your needs—it contains 25 feet of coils that you can unravel, with a tip designed to snag debris or other items that might be responsible for a clog in your drains. 

If your sink doesn’t have a stopper or plug, or if your stopper can be pulled out, snaking the drain is fairly simple. You just send the coil into the drain about as far as you can get it, then reel it back in, hopefully taking any obstructions with it. 

If your stopper can’t be removed, things get a little tricky. You’ll need to go under and take out the P-trap (the bending section of pipe) so you can snake from the bottom up. This might be a bit heavy-duty for some of you, and for truly severe clogs, you might still find an issue.

Use a Wet-Dry Vac

One additional step to try, if snaking doesn’t work, would be the use of a wet-dry vac. Of course, not everyone has a wet-dry vac. It’s not exactly a common household item for most people. If you do have one, however, and none of the previous methods have worked, you can give using yours a try. 

To tackle clogs with a wet-dry vac, first set the machine to the “wet” setting. Then make a tight seal over the drain, and turn it on at its highest setting. This should hopefully, finally, unclog your sink.

Drain-Clearing Chemicals

Now, most households would rather avoid the “hassle” of some of these approaches by just dumping drain-clearing chemicals, waiting half an hour, and flushing with hot water. If you’re determined to do this, do research first. Make sure the product is eco-friendly, and that it doesn’t utilize harsh and harmful chemicals.

As we mentioned earlier, many of these drain cleaning products harm both the environment as well as your pipes, and can release toxic or harmful gasses inside your home.

When All Else Fails, Call a Plumber

If, at the end of the day, you’ve tried everything and still are nowhere closer to having a functional sink drain, call a local professional. No one likes having to spend money for a plumber to come and fix a clogged drain, but when you’ve exhausted all your options, that means it’s time for extra help. 

A dependable plumber should be able to take care of everything, and they’ll likely find the overarching issue that caused your severe clog in the first place. 

No matter how you do it, once you’ve defeated the dreaded clogged sink, you’ll be thankful every time you go to wash your hands without leaving behind a pool of soapy, still water. And nobody wants that.

Guest Contributor: Jeff Good