Do the soaps we use clog our sinks?

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I usually pour a kettle of boiling water down the sink, then a cup of baking soda, a cup of vinegar, wait fifteen or so minutes, then another kettle of boiling water. Seems to clear things out fine, although I have more problems with the shower drain than I do the sink.

A cup of dry baking soda?

I'm trying to visualize getting that down my shower drain. Not saying it can't be done, but I think I'd have to do it with a small spoon to get the baking soda into the drain pipe. Am I misunderstanding something?

Edit: From reading a few online articles on using baking soda, vinegar, and hot water on clogs it looks like the baking soda is dry and an effort is made to get it into the pipe.

Various people swear by it. Others, not so much. Still others love the Dawn method (described in this thread).

Thanks and happy shaves,

Jim

 

[DougK]

A cup of dry baking soda?

I'm trying to visualize getting that down my shower drain. Not saying it can't be done, but I think I'd have to do it with a small spoon to get the baking soda into the drain pipe. Am I misunderstanding something?

Edit: From reading a few online articles on using baking soda, vinegar, and hot water on clogs it looks like the baking soda is dry and an effort is made to get it into the pipe.

Various people swear by it. Others, not so much. Still others love the Dawn method (described in this thread).

Thanks and happy shaves,

Jim

Yep, that's exactly what you do. For my drain, it's pretty easy to get the baking soda in; once I take the cover off, I can pretty much just pour it straight in. A smaller spoon does make it easier, though.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Yep, that's exactly what you do. For my drain, it's pretty easy to get the baking soda in; once I take the cover off, I can pretty much just pour it straight in. A smaller spoon does make it easier, though.

Thanks.

 

[Mathieu76]

We had full bathroom renovation in the beginning of this year. Two weeks ago once of the sinks began clogging up. So i removed the U part. The was a big clog of mainly long hairs which also trapped soap. I have a wifw and daughter both with long hair. In our case the long hairs are the problem not the soap.

 

[alla2465]

Never had this issue, but using drain cleaner could easily fix this.

 

[shave/brush]

Drain cleaner does not work for me. The only thing that works is running a snake thru the drain.
So far using soaps that contain SLS seems to be working.

 

[Jim99]

Drain cleaner does not work for me. The only thing that works is running a snake thru the drain.
So far using soaps that contain SLS seems to be working.

Same here. For whatever reason, the drain cleaners do not work well for me. It’s like pouring money down the drain! I have observed that I have not needed to unclog the bathroom sink when using soaps containing SLS.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Drain cleaner does not work for me. The only thing that works is running a snake thru the drain.
So far using soaps that contain SLS seems to be working.

I've never used a snake.

After reading an earlier post about using snakes for the drains I did a bit of homework and found there are various sorts. They come in different sizes apparently for different sized pipe lumens. Some are manually driven. Some have their own motor. Some attach to an electric drill to use as a power source. Etc.

I live in a house which is a bit over a hundred years old. Three floors. Some say to buy a 50 foot snake if the house is multistoried with upstairs bathrooms. Other snakes are 25 feet long or even shorter.

In other words I have zero understanding of what snake to buy should I buy one. A snake might be what I need though.

The only drains I have problems with are in the bathroom my wife and I use most of the time, and all the time for showers and shaves. The sink and the shower are forever running very very slow, intermittently. They seldom remain free flowing for long and generally don't become totally free flowing to the degree I'll describe below. I've been fooling with them and unclogging them endlessly for decades.

The other day I noticed both were extremely slow draining. Not the first time that's happened of course. Sometimes it is very difficult to make them drain. The other day all I did not much work to unclog the drains. First was one application of of a commercial liquid gel clog remover the brand of which I've forgotten, maybe Drano. Following a very hot water rinse of both drains I put Dawn dishwashing soap into each of the two drains (not a ton of Dawn but a generous squirt or two). Then more hot water.

That did the trick. I've used the gel many many times. Sometimes it's taken three or four applications over several days to get a free flowing (or better flowing) drain. I've used the eighth of a bottle of Dawn method several times before too. Never before have the drains been this good.

This time my drains, sink and shower, were amazingly free flowing. There is zero backup as I shower. The drains are working as well as any drains I've ever used anywhere. I do not recall this shower ever flowing quite this well. I don't know if the combination of the two products and methods did the trick or what.

Maybe it was just a one time bit of good luck.

I've used this ⬆ type of plastic hair remover a million times. Sometimes it removes a lot of hair. Sometime, none. Sometimes it makes a big difference. Sometimes, none. These can be used over and over (not just once and discarded).

I'm going to try baking soda and vinegar, too, assuming the drains clog again, but have to find a big box of baking soda (I see them sometimes in the stores but haven't recently).

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Quaznoid]

Yes

 

[mrlandpirate]

No

 

[FarmerTan]

"Maybe"

 

[shave/brush]

It all depends where the blockage is. Mine seems to clog about 4 feet down the drain.

 

[Wogus]

The obvious solution is to shave in the front yard using a garden hose. You can hose down the driveway at the same time. Two birds, one stone.

 

[xmacro]

Drano seems to solve all my problems; that stuff just dissolves organic matter AFAIK

 

[Demolition]

The sink where I shave never clogs, probably because I have short hair and the main things that go down the drain are stubble, lather, and toothpaste. Our extremely soft water probably helps.

However, the sinks used by the womenfolk in my household clog fairly often due to long hair and all sorts of goopy cosmetics, creams, and lotions. I stopped using chemicals because I became concerned with what they were doing to the pipes, the environment, etc.

So, now, I use a miniature version of a toilet plunger ($2.99 at a local hardware store). The rubber cup is 4" in diameter and the wooden handle is 8" long. When the drain slows down, I fill the sink about an inch to improve the seal, then give a couple of hard plunges. And, voilà, no more clogs.

 

[Matux]

For sure, my wife's hairs is the reason why the sink gets clogged.

Now, I once had that problem with a bar of soap from L'Occitane - I could tell beacuse it got clogged almost daily. A chemist, an acquaintance of mine, told me it was because of a defect in the soap's formula.

 

[shave/brush]

For sure, my wife's hairs is the reason why the sink gets clogged.

Now, I once had that problem with a bar of soap from L'Occitane - I could tell beacuse it got clogged almost daily. A chemist, an acquaintance of mine, told me it was because of a defect in the soap's formula.

With me it was clogging up every couple of years. One thing someone mentioned to me was using a soap that contains SLS (sodium laureth sulfate). So far it's been okay but it's only been a few months. The SLS suppose to help prevent the soap scum from sticking to the pipes.
The 3 soaps I use now are Van Der Hagen Luxury, Nivea stick, Van Der Hagen Glycerin. They perform great.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I had to shift a blockage yesterday. A bottle of Mr Muscle Power Gel did the trick. I left it for 15 minutes though, rather than the suggested 5 minutes. I don't know how much of the problem was soap, and how much was hair, as I have a long-ish (15cm/6") goatee, and long (50cm/20") head hair.

 

[shave/brush]

I had to shift a blockage yesterday. A bottle of Mr Muscle Power Gel did the trick. I left it for 15 minutes though, rather than the suggested 5 minutes. I don't know how much of the problem was soap, and how much was hair, as I have a long-ish (15cm/6") goatee, and long (50cm/20") head hair.

The blocks that I have are always way down the pipe nothing that I believe a liquid gel would help.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

The blocks that I have are always way down the pipe nothing that I believe a liquid gel would help.

Past the U bend on mine, there's the straight drop to the floor, a 90 degree bend, and a straight run to outside, then another 90 degree bend and straight run to take it to the fall pipe. No excess joints, chicanes, droops, reducers, or other cause for residue and detritus to build up. So long as I can keep the U bend clear, I don't have any downstream issues.