Friday, August 3, 2007

HA! Drain fixed, without horrific environmental damage

So our little pedestal sink in the bathroom hasn't been draining. It's been bad, real bad. I pride myself on knowing jack shit about plumbing, and the lack of drainage in the bathroom got me pacing and wrinkling my brow. I really didn't want to learn how to fix it, nor did I want to pay a plumber to come out and laugh at me as he dumped Drano into the thing. I was cornered.

I finally decided to internet research a non toxic way to clear the drain -- the results were: 1. Physical clearing -- using whatever you can (normally a snake, but in this case the drain is too small for a snake) physically pull as much gunk out of the drain. It's gross but it works, since it's normally hair and hair sticks to soap and then to each other. Once you get a little bit of hair just keep pulling, most of it will come out. 2. Chemical clearing -- I cringe to think what Drano and similar products do when they pass (probably unscathed) through sewage treatment plants and enter our waterways, so I opted for baking soda and vinegar. I packed the hole with baking soda and repeatedly poured vinegar into the drain, when the bubbles stopped I stirred the mix with a chop stick and poured some more. I used approximately 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1/2 quart of vinegar. 3. Heat -- poured a whole pot of rapidly boiling water down the drain to finish the job.

It worked beautifully. I didn't have to dump extremely nasty toxins into the sewage treatment system, and I learned a bit about plumbing. Namely, you can unscrew the little plunger on the top of the drainplug to get access to the drain without having to take the whole dam sink apart.

Feelin' studly.

Enjoy your freely-draining pipes,

Bp

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