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The Dangers of Using Chemical Drain Cleaning Solutions

Plumber repairing the sink

A clogged sink can be an irritating inconvenience because they always seem to happen at a bad time. The first thing many people do to fix these problems is to get out their trusty plungers trying to unclog it themselves.

The second thing is usually pouring some kind of store-bought drain cleaner in, hoping that will do the trick.

There are serious problems caused by using these store-bought drain cleaners. They might seem effective at first, but they cause more harm than good.

Read the Label

Drain cleaners are incredible corrosive and dangerous. Read the label of a bottle of some drain cleaner, and you will find a lost list of warnings. They are made up of poisonous toxic chemicals that damage skin and can be deadly if swallowed. When chemicals like these are poured down drains, they end up in sewage treatment plants designed for only removing biological waste.

That means that since they aren’t filtered out, they end up back in waterways affecting animals and plants. Besides the potential damage being caused to someone’s health and the environment, they are also damaging to sewer lines as well. Long term exposure of corrosive drain cleaners will eat away at lines making holes that are costly to repair.

Plumbing Equipments

Call a Plumber for the Proper Job

Plumbers don’t use chemicals to clean out clogs. They have a neat device called a “snake” to use instead. It consists of a flexible metal rod that is coiled up that they unwind and push down the drain to dislodge anything blocking the line. A snake can be used for long distances of plumbing and Birmingham Drain Cleaning Servicessewer lines, and it is more effective than drain cleaners which rarely clean the entire blockage.

If something that isn’t made of food goes down the sink on accident, like a dishtowel, chemical cleaners won’t be able to remove the blockage, but a snake can.

If a thick coating of grease is blocking the line, sometimes plumbers will use a high-pressure water sprayer to clean it out. It is highly effective and won’t harm the environment or your lines.

It is better to try to prevent clogs from occurring, to begin with by being careful what goes down the sink. Accidents happen though, and if you do get a clogged sink, call a professional plumber instead.

Are your pipes all clogged up in your Birmingham home? If you’re having trouble, give Latta Plumbing a Call at 205-631-6445, so we can get down to the root of the problem.