What’s the best way to clear a clogged drain in your home? Two ideas probably immediately come to mind:
- A basic sink plunger (or toilet plunger in the case of a toilet)
- A chemical drain cleaner
A sink/toilet plunger is definitely a good idea to start with. Although these plungers won’t solve tougher clogs, for simple ones they can often get the job done and don’t cause any harm to the plumbing.
Chemical drain cleaners, the type you buy from stores in bottles, are not good ideas. In fact, they can end up creating worse troubles for drains and rarely address the whole problem.
When it comes to professional drain cleaning, plumbers usually rely on two different methods—hydro-jetting and drain snakes. Hydro-jetting uses powerful blasts of high-pressure water to scour the interior of a drain, and drain snakes (a.k.a. drain augers) are coils that can drill down into clogs to remove them or break them apart.
Which tool your plumber uses will depend on the type of clog and what the plumber believes is the most effective approach.
When we tell you to “watch out for FOG!”, we don’t mean to be cautious of sinister figures lurking in a mist spreading across the city at night. (Although you should always drive cautiously in fog, no matter the time of day.) The “fog” we’re talking about is FOG, an acronym for “fats, oils, and grease.” They are some of the worst things that can affect the drains in your home—specifically the kitchen drain, although they can get down into the sewer line as well and make trouble for the entire house.
Professional cleaning of drains is an important plumbing job. It’s also misunderstood, and this leads to many homeowners neglecting to have it done at the right time, or attempting to do it in a way that ends up creating more problems.
Drain cleaning is a plumbing job that people often connect with getting rid of tough clogs or annoying slow drains. Those are definitely important reasons to schedule this service. Frequently overlooked, however, is the importance of drain cleaning as part of routine maintenance for plumbing. The best way to deal with clogged drains is to stop them from happening in the first place, and arranging for annual drain cleaning from skilled plumbing professionals is the best way to get this done.
Clogged drains, slow drains… dirty drains. They’re the most common plumbing trouble people encounter in their homes. Although you can take steps to reduce the chance of clogs and slow drains (using drain covers, never pouring fats, oils, and grease down the drains, etc.), there is no sure-fire way to prevent them all. You’ll eventually need 
