Anything better than spirit of salts?

[Shaft]

Long story short, got a badly blocked bathroom sink, chucked half a litre of spirit of salts down it (because I've successfully used that in the past, where things like caustic soda have failed) and it doesn't seem to have made any difference.

Before I get messy and start stripping pipes out and ramming stuff down them, anyone got any other chemical based suggestions?

TIA
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[ScaredyCat]

Have you tried it with a sink plunger yet?
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[talkToTheHat]

If concentrated hydrochloric acid won't shift it, then it's problem time.

Have you cleared the trap before trying flesh eating chemicals? If not you're going to have fun clearing the trap.

Note that spirit of salt is a strong acid and caustic soda is strongly alkaline, using both will waste as much of one as there is of the other before getting to work, and the reaction between the two might be mildly exothermic.
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[Rogerborg]

Have you tried asking the wife/kids/roomates/fugees hiding in the attic what they've been dropping down there?

Last time the kitchen sink backed up, I found the u-bend was full of matchsticks.

Defence: "I only left them sitting on the edge of the sink!"

...and never wondered what happened to them afterwards.
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[P.]

I've cleared a sink in a student house once using a kitchen roll tube, bleach and mr muscle drain unblocker. Pour the contents down the plug hole, give it a few minutes, pipe over the plug hole and blow hard.

I didn't die and the blockage went very quickly

[grr666]

Am I missing something here?
A sink or basin trap is designed to catch solid matter passing through a water pipe, it's to be expected to have to
clean them out once in a while, why can't OP just undo the plastic waste, wash out in a bucket of hot soapy water
and then replace, it doesn't even require tools to do it. Alternatively lob it and buy a new one, not sure I've ever spent
more than £6 on any plastic inch and a quarter trap. Just make sure there's a container underneath before you
start unscrewing the compression fittings, and wear rubber gauntlets which also cover your wrists if you have
been lobbing nasty chemicals down there.

I clear the traps in my kitchen sink, the bath and both basins once a year whether they need it or not, it takes
me about half an hour to get round them all. Never had a blockage yet. Same as the outside drains get a blast in the
spring when I'm jetwashing the autumn/winter moss off of the path. If the blockage is beyond the u-bend or bottle,
then hire a sanisnake for a few pennies and you'll soon be flowing again.
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[hedgehugger]

[grr666]

I have a wife that seems to think a dishwasher will dissolve a fucking pork chop, she always fails to clean plates properly
before loading the machine. The revolting gunge I have to periodically clean out of the dishwasher would
make a pig retch. I wouldn't mind so much if my Mrs was a thicko, but she is extremely smart, but she's book smart.
Common sense is a little thinner on the ground with her. Mind you, she's smart enough to have a clean
dishwasher without ever having to lift a finger to keep it that way.
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Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Rogerborg]

[Lord Percy]

[stinkwheel]

I have assured Mrs stinkwheel that the next time the "washing machine's broken". She can take her turn at emptying the drum of water with a cup then kneeling on a damp floor for 20 minutes with a sponge to drain the remaining water into a bucket before removing the bobby pin from the pump impellar.

Also for someone with a higher level degree in a hugely practical area, she seems unable to understand that said washing machine is incapable of achieving a balanced spin if you cram as many clothes as will physically fit into it. To the point where it's straining against the catch and you have to hold the door shut with your knee to get it to start.

I get a "The washing machine's done that thing where the clothes are still wet again.". "Yes dear, that's because it has a kingsize sheet and duvet cover, a bath mat and two bath towels crammed into it."

We even tried having a "No more in one load than will fit in this laundry basket or all the bedclothes off one double bed." rule but I may as well talk to myself.
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[nowhere.elysium]

[AngelGrinder]

[Rogerborg]

[smegballs]

In my house:

For some reason the little box next to the sink where the scrubbing pads, brush etc etc lives is a cutlery holder, with holes in the bottom.

Of course all the water drips through the holes at the bottom onto the worktop. It is still mostly covered from the top though, so instead of evaporating it instead is colonised by bacteria and makes a slime that smells terrible.

I tried swapping said uselessness out for a closed bottom receptacle, but when I got home from work, the cutlery holder was back in its location. Such is life in a shared house.

[grr666]

[sickpup]

[stinkwheel]

[Undinist]

One Shot Instant Drain Cleaner is worth a try, it's 91% sulphuric acid. It's fucking ferocious stuff - don't get it on your skin or breathe in the fumes. It's not sold in supermarkets but lots of hardware shops have it. Seven or eight quid for 1 litre.


https://www.wilko.com/content/ebiz/wilkinsonplus/invt/0343461/0343461_l.jpg


Sometimes a drain spring is an instant solution. Cheap ones on ebay cost about the same as a bottle of One Shot. https://r.ebay.com/zMlY4p

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/z/NtUAAOSwhwdVVOqh/$_12.JPG

[Robby]

A kettle or two of boiling water always does the job for me. Blockages tend to be either grease or soap with assorted shit bound up in it. Hot water melts either.

Then I tend to run the hot tap for 5 minutes afterwards to clear away any residual shit.

[hellkat]

[sickpup]

[aderynmawr]

My bathroom basin has been very slow to drain for a while and yesterday I decided to tackle it. I tried the commercial (Mr Muscle type stuff) chemical method, which did absolutely nothing...just took a long time to drain away, like the water. Neither did washing soda and hot water or bicarb and white vinegar. Then I gave it a good poking with my drain snakey-spring thing but something seemed to be stopping it. Finally, I got the u-bend off and found it full of the most disgusting black stuff I’ve ever seen. It felt like a cross between liver and a set custard but actually smelled strongly of mint (decomposing toothpaste? Note to self: use more than half a cup of water when brushing teeth).

To make a long story shorter, I cleaned it, put it back, ran the tap - still blocked, took it off again and found that this semi-solid slime goes on along the pipe which goes behind the bath. My question is, shall I pour some hydrochloric acid (or spirits of salt, depending on your age) down there or leave it alone now and get a man in? Will the acid do any harm? Provided I can find it, of course - I know I put it somewhere “safe”.

Btw, this thread made coffee come down my nose this morning 😂

[doggone]

Plastic pipes shouldn't be harmed by occasional strong chemicals, rubber O rings in joints might be.
Plunger to move things to and fro combined with very hot water ought to help, if you have slow drainage through at least any chemical can get to it.
Caustic Soda crystals are a good option and cheap enough if you can find them.

Bear in mind mixing acids and alkali can create interesting results such as Mustard gas, my Dad did this one, I never was quite able to reproduce the spectacular effect.

[Ste]

yfpos