Drain Unblocking Products – The Good & The Bad
Suffering from blocked drains is a common issue faced up and down the country, whether in the home or at a commercial premises. Especially at this time of year, with the trees shedding their leaves and causing obstructions, many people will find themselves dealing with backed-up pipes impacting on household drainage.
At times like this, a lot of us turn to supermarket-bought drain clearing products, but do these provide the best solution?
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Plunger + Elbow Grease
Using a plunger will often clear smaller obstructions, and regularly flushing boiling water through the pipes on a weekly basis will get rid of most hair and household grease that may cause an issue, but a more serious drain blockage may find you seeking a more heavy duty approach.
However, many drain cleaners you can pick up off the shelves are full of chemicals that can pose a danger both to your pipework and the local eco-system. These products are usually split into biological and chemical drain unblockers, with different blockages calling for different solutions.
Biological Drain Unblockers
Biological cleaners are gentler on the environment, utilising enzymes to attack blockages and build-ups in the drain, but their effectiveness is largely limited to obstructions caused by hair and soap residue.
Chemical Drain Clearers
Chemical cleaners provide a far more effective way to unblock drains that are obstructed by mineral deposits, but can be extremely harmful to your system. If your drainage involves the use of a septic tank, chemical cleaners are a no-go, as they often contain sodium hydroxide – a highly caustic substance that can damage septic systems and aggravate exposed skin if you come into contact with it.
Natural Alternatives
One alternative could be to try less harmful solutions, such as pouring a few tablespoons of sodium carbonate mixed with hot water down your drains, letting it rest for 20-30 minutes, and flushing it out with boiling water. Sodium carbonate is used regularly as a water softener, and provides a more natural solution to some of the chemical-filled supermarket products.
Easily the most effective way to deal with (generally external) blocked drains is through water jetting. This is a fairly self-explanatory process whereby highly powerful jets of water are sent through pipework and drains to clear away any blockages and flush out obstructions, cleaning scum and fat build-ups from the interior of the pipes at the same time. So in a way, water jetting is the best drain unblocker.
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