Slow or clogged drains in your home are a huge nuisance. They turn everyday activities like taking a shower or using the sink into difficult and annoying chores. That’s why when you have slow or clogged drains in your home you typically want to get rid of the problem fast, says Lone Eagle Team Philly.
Your natural inclination when your drain is clogged or slow may be to reach for any solution that promises quick results with the least cost. For many homeowners, their favorite drain cleaning solution is a liquid drain cleaner.
But do liquid drain cleaners do everything they say they can? If they do get rid of the blockages within your drains, at what cost do they do this? What are the long-term effects of liquid drain cleaners on your home’s plumbing?
How liquid drain cleaners work and why they are bad for your plumbing
Liquid drain cleaners use a wide range of chemicals as their active agent. Typically, these release intense heat within the pipes to melt away the blockage. Although it is effective for unclogging the pipes, this process can have unintended consequences for your plumbing.
Some of the major side effects of using liquid drain cleaners include:
Liquid drain cleaners will damage your plumbing
Toilets in the USA are usually sealed to the floor using a beeswax ring. Beeswax cannot withstand the exothermic reactions – intense heat – caused by liquid drain cleaners. Over time the seal that connects your toilet to the floor will eventually weaken.
Liquid drain cleaners can melt ABS piping after one night of sitting inside the pipe. This often happens when the drain cleaner encounters a blockage it cannot clear. The heat inside the pipe slowly cooks the plastic instead of clearing the blockage.
Liquid drain cleaners have also been known to crack porcelain. This mostly happens when the drain cleaner is used inside a toilet and intense heat from the chemical reaction causes huge temperature differences within the toilet, especially around the watermark. This can also happen if a liquid drain cleaner is poured into a garbage disposal.
They only provide a temporary fix
Drain cleaners do not melt the blockage in your pipes. They might make a slow drain somewhat better but they do not eliminate the issue most of the time. Often, actually, they end up making it worse. Ironically, this is due to the manner in which liquid drain cleaners function.
Because they are heavier than water, drain cleaners have no problem flowing to the clog site in your pipes. But once it penetrates the clog, the drain cleaner no longer works. The reason is, once water starts flowing in your pipes like before, it sweeps the drain cleaner out of the pipes. What actually happens is liquid drain cleaners don’t clean everything out of your pipe; they create a hole inside the clog.
Higher plumbing costs
Frequent use of liquid drain cleaners increases your home’s plumbing repair and maintenance costs. The plumbing lifespan is significantly reduced because of the effects of using liquid drain cleaners. The pipes will need to be replaced sooner.
Moreover, you will be paying a plumber to fix the same problem you tried fixing using the liquid drain cleaner. Additionally, aside from paying double for the same problem, the plumber will charge you more because the drain cleaners would have made it even more difficult to fix the problem.
Liquid drain cleaners are unsafe
Liquid drain cleaners leave a toxic mess inside your pipes. When you eventually hire a professional plumber to fix the plumbing, they have to deal with these nasty chemicals. When the pipes are opened, the acid inside the pipes can spray or pour all over your home and on the plumber, exposing them to the risk of serious injury, including loss of sight.
Additionally, when liquid drain cleaners are washed out of your pipes, they enter the sewer system. From there they flow into the ground or natural water bodies, polluting these environments and killing wildlife and plants.
Once every month, flush hot water down your drains. Fill the sink with hot water and then unplug the drain to let the water out.
Alternatives to liquid drain cleaners
In place of using liquid drain cleaners in your plumbing you can adopt the following preventive measures:
- Do not pour grease down the kitchen sink.
- Wash your hair and shave in the shower, instead of in the sink. Shower drains are less likely to catch hair. Shower drains are also bigger than toilet drains and they have fewer connections.
- Instead of shaving foam, use soap. Shaving foam leaves a sticky film that promotes clogs.
- Except for water, toilet paper and human waste, nothing else should enter your toilet.
- Do not dump food scraps into your kitchen sink, even if you have a garbage disposal.
- Once every month, flush hot water down your drains. Fill the sink with hot water and then unplug the drain to let the water out.
Lastly, at least once a year, you want to hire an experienced plumber and have them perform a video camera inspection of your sewer line to check your drainpipes and detect any budding issues in the system. The plumber should also clean your pipes professionally, using hydro-jetting, a sewer rodding service, or both.