| With all the different kinds of food scraps that find their way down sink drains, it's not surprising that these drains get stopped up from time to time. Symptoms of a clog can range from slow-draining water to a stagnant pond in your sink. The easiest solution for drain clogs (but not necessarily the environmentally safest) is to use any of a wide range of chemical drain uncloggers, available in solid and liquid forms at supermarkets, hardware stores, and plumbing-supply dealers. You pour the product in, wait for it to dissolve the blockage, and then flush the drain with running water. A nontoxic alternative that often eliminates clogs is to pour a kettle full of hot boiling water down the drain.  | Some chemicals can damage the plastic or rubber parts of a garbage disposal and can cause injury if the cleaner splashes into your eyes or onto your skin. If you decide to use chemicals, read the package directions and precautions carefully and follow them precisely; the directions vary by product. If the blockage doesn't clear after a couple of tries, you're ready for a more hands-on approach. |
Removing the trap To unclog your sink drain, remove and clean the trap (the U-shaped pipe located under the sink. Removing and cleaning the trap is easy. Wear rubber gloves and eye protection to shield yourself from the sharp pieces of debris or whatever has caused the blockage. 1. Place a bucket under the trap (before taking it apart). This way, you catch any debris or water that falls out when the trap is removed. 2. Use a wrench or slip-joint pliers to unscrew the metal slip nuts a half turn or so, so that you can loosen them by hand. Some traps have a clean-out plug instead of slip nuts. Simply remove the plug and allow the blockage to spill out. To protect the chrome finish on the slip nuts, wrap tape around the jaws of your wrench or pliers. Plastic traps have slip nuts that you can usually turn by hand. 3. Scrape out any blockage from the trap. 4. Tighten the slip nuts with your hands to ensure that they're threaded on the trap correctly, and then tighten with a wrench or pliers. Half a turn is usually all that's necessary to stop the trap from leaking; don't overtighten.  | Some folks may advise you to try unclogging the sink drain with a plunger (covered in the following section, "Turning to a homeowner's best friend: A plunger") before you resort to removing the trap. Note that cleaning the trap first is a better approach, because using a plunger can push the clogged material from the trap into the drainpipe, where it's more difficult to remove. |
Turning to a homeowner's best friend: A plunger A common plunger is capable of unclogging a drain that even the toughest chemicals can't budge. Unlike chemicals, a plunger uses suction to alternately push and pull the clog within the pipe until the force dislodges the blockage. If cleaning the trap doesn't clear the clog, try plunging the offending clog. Don't confuse a common plunger that's used for drains with a toilet plunger, which has two cups, one inside the other. A common plunger has a wooden broomstick-like handle that attaches to a cup-shaped piece of rubber. | Before you start whaling away with a plunger, remove any standing water that may contain chemicals. Splashing diluted chemicals into your eyes can cause severe damage. |
Here's the plunger procedure: 1. If the sink has a stopper, try to remove the stopper first to give you a wider opening to the drain. 2. Pour a full kettle's worth of boiling water down the drain to break up the clog. 3. Fill the sink with enough tap water to cover the rubber portion of a plunger, thus assuring good suction. 4. Place the plunger over the drain and vigorously push down and pull up several times. If you're successful, you'll notice a sudden emptying of the sink. Resorting to a snake If neither cleaning the trap nor plunging clears the clog, your final weapon is a drain auger (also known as a snake). This tool, a coiled spiral snake that's usually about 1/4-inch thick, with a handle on one end, works the opposite way that a plunger does: You push the snake into the clog and crank it to drive the snake farther into the obstruction. While parts of the clog break up and flush through the drain, the snake helps you gain access to the clog so that you can pull it out. Some snakes can fit as an attachment on an electric drill, giving it more power to force it through the clog. Snakes are especially handy because they're long enough to reach clogs that are deep within a drainpipe. You can rent a manually operated or an electrical drain auger for a few bucks at a rental center. The equipment is easy to use, but ask the dealer for operating instructions. The basic process is as follows: 1. Push the end of the snake into the drain opening and turn the handle on the drum that contains the coiled-up snake. The auger begins its journey down the drain. 2. Keep pushing more of the snake into the drain until you feel resistance. You may have to apply pressure when cranking the handle to get it to bend around the tight curve in the trap under the sink. After turning the curve, the snake usually slides through easily until you hit the clog. 3. Rotate the snake against the blockage until you feel it feed freely into the pipe. The rotating action enables the tip of the snake to attach to the clog and spin it away or chop it up. If the clog is a solid object, the auger head entangles the object. If you don't feel the auger breaking through and twisting getting easier, pull the auger out of the drain — you'll likely pull the clog out with it. 4. Run water full force for a few minutes to be sure that the drain is unclogged. Sometimes, the clog flushes down the drain; at other times, the clog comes out attached to the snake.  | If the snake doesn't fit down the drain or gets held up in the trap, you need to open the trap beneath the sink. Follow the instructions in the "Removing the trap" section. Avoid contact with the water that comes out of the trap because it may contain chemical drain opener. From the trap, insert the snake in either direction until you reach and clean out the clog. |
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