Unblocking a sink

One of the biggest pains in a homeowner’s life is blocked drains. Tipping oils and fats down the sink tends to play havoc with your pipes, so here are some simple tips for unblocking drains without using damaging chemicals, plus a couple of preventative measures.

Unblocking – the basics

First try a kettle of boiling water

Sometimes boiling water alone may be enough to do the trick. But you need to do some pre-prep if the sink is already full of cold, greasy water. The hot water dilutes before it can do its job, so bale the sink out first into a bucket. Then mop up as much accessible water as possible using a large sponge. You can also pour a little washing up liquid down the plug hole and let that penetrate for 15 minutes before adding the boiling water.

If that doesn’t do it try a plunger.

The good news is you don’t have to drain the sink to use a plunger, but it’s a good idea to block the the overflow. Hold a wet cloth over the overflow with one hand while punging with the other. Alternatively, dry the overflow area and seal with duct tape. And get a good, old fashioned black rubber sink plunger with a sturdy handle – not some new fangled bit of kit that’s meant to do the work for you. A skim of vaseline around the rim of the plunger can also improve the seal.

» Sink plunger

Failing all that grab a drain auger!

If things are really bad you’ll need a drain auger, sometime’s called a plumber’s snake. This snakes down the pipe and clears the blockage. If you don’t want to buy one you can often hire one from tool hire shops. Depending on where the blockage is you may need to remove the trap, the section of pipe under the sink, which unscrews at both ends to give you access.

Home-made sink unblocking solutions

There are a whole range of sink unblocking products on the market and some of them contain some pretty nasty ingredients which are no good for you or the planet. A good home made unblocking alternative involves a pint of cheap white vinegar and a large cup of bicarbonate of soda. Again, get as much waste water out of the sink first. Pour the bicarb down the plughole first and then top up with the vinegar. DON’T put the plug in the sink. When the solution stops fizzing, flush with boiling water.

Household Borax can also be put down the plughole, left for a while and flushed through with boiling water. I also keep a jat of Fizz ‘n’ Use, a natural power cleaner which can be used in toilets, down drains and to clean ovens and surfaces. Fizz ‘n’ Use is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, sodium percarbonate, citruc acid and silica. You can use a solution of Fizz ‘n’ Use as a regular preventative to keep drains running smoothly.

» Fizz ‘n’ Use

Last but not least – don’t let drains get blocked in the first place – prevention’s always better than cure!

If you’re already up to your armpits in a sinkful of cold greasy water that won’t drain away then it’s too late for this part – but you may want to bear it mind for the future. Prevention is so much better than cure.

The big ‘no, no’ is pouring any form of animal fat down the drain. Animal fat is great for roasting potatoes. So, ideally, drain it into a container and store in the fridge or freezer until required. If you don’t plan to use the fat at all, allow it to go cold and hard in the pan and then scrape all of it into the bin. (Traditionally, you could use such fat to make fat balls for birds but wildlife organisations advise against this. Use purified lard only.)

Food debris can also block drains, particularly if there’s also some congealed fat involved. Scrape plates thoroughly. You can also get silicon drain covers that sit in the sink over the plug hole and sift out finer partcles. Silicon drain covers are also great in the bath or shower and prevent hair from blocking your drains.

Ironically some forms of food debris can be a good way to keep drains clear – crushed egg shells or coffee grounds are both supposed to be good at scraping away other debris inside pipes and help to keep them clear.

» Dossil silicon drain covers