Regular use of vinegar or drano


  #1  
Old 11-03-18, 11:43 AM
Z
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Regular use of vinegar or drano

Hello,

We had our kitchen sinks clog up over the long Canadian thanksgiving weekend. Had 20 guests coming over so had to splurge for a plumber. 2 guys we’re here for 2.5 using power augers. Our kitchen has 3 sinks. (Not our design, bought the place this way). Total bill was $600 due to the emergency call on a long weekend Sunday.

Plumbers mentioned a couple of factors:
- a lot of drains will plug eventually due to soap, grease, hair etc
- main kitchen Sink has a garburator
- plumber said most clogs are made up of soap and not grease
- the three skinks meet up and then work their way through two 90 degree elbows within 4 inches of each other (looks like half a swatistika)

Ceiling below the pipes is fully finished with only a small space available to see the two 90s. Plumber said he could put in a better (more gradual) piece, but would involve breaking the finished (textured) ceiling.

He’s recommending regular (monthly) vinegar dumps down the drain. He’s against drano or any other chemicals as regular use damages the piping. Also limited the stuff that goes down the garburator.

Does regular use of vinegar work? Is soap build up the real cause in a kitchen drain?
Based on the Ferncos we saw, it looks like this may have happened before. We moved in a year ago. House is about 40 years old.
 
  #2  
Old 11-03-18, 02:25 PM
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Is this iron pipe/brass or PVC ?
Not much hurts PVC. Drano and others eat metal pipes.
Years ago...... Drano contained large amounts of Lye.... it really ate the grease as well as the pipes.
I don't see the newer formulations as being terribly effective on clogs.

Not sure how effective vinegar is either.
Ultimately it sounds like a drain line change needs to be made.
 
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Old 11-03-18, 02:31 PM
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Agree. Try not to use chemicals. Regular snaking is the best.
 
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Old 11-03-18, 04:46 PM
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Use enzyme based maintenance cleaners like ZEP drain care regularly. I saw them do amazing things in old, old pipes back in VA. If they can work on those, they should be reasonably effective on a newer home (compared to those in VA, your home is much newer) when used per directions....esp right after a professional snake job.

I believe the soap thing. Bathrooms (showers and sinks) get clogged more often than kitchen sinks...in my experience. It's the combination of body oils, skin cells, hair, and soap that does it.
 
 

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