Clearing a Drain - The Safe Green Way

Every homeowner has to deal with a clogged drain at some point. However, even though chemical solutions often offer a quick and easy solution to the problem, they can potentially damage the balance of your septic system, and will definitely damage the planet. Below are a few cheap, green solutions to a clogged drain.

1. Prevent the problem. When is the last time that you cleaned out the drains in your bathroom or your kitchen? It may not be the most glamorous activity in your home, but drains get filled up with gunk and debris from everyday usage. Spending a few minutes cleaning these things out can save you time and money in the long run.

2. Baking Powder and Vinegar. Remember when your baking soda and vinegar experiment won the fourth grade science fair? Well, probably not, but the chemical reaction these two items offer can often provide enough agitation and pressure to clear a blocked pipe, without risking damage to the pipes themselves.

3. A plunger. Plungers can be a little bit gross, but with a little bit of elbow grease, and a little bit of overall effort, you can often clear a pesky blockage without risking the long-term health of the environment.

4. Drain Snake. While many people are often intimidate when they think about using a drain snake, it is in reality a very simple and basic tool. Simple insert the "business" end of the snake into the clogged drain and begin rotating and agitating the snake until the blockage has been cleared.

If you consider yourself an environmentally conscious individual then the decision to abandon your damaging chemical solutions should be relatively easy to make.

Avoiding Mistakes For Do-It-Yourselfers - Drain Clearing

The other day I was in a popular home improvement center picking up some irrigation parts for our house, when I was ease dropping on a conversation between an older man and one of the stores representatives. The man explained to the so-called in house plumbing expert that he had a clogged drain and was looking for a product that could be poured into the drain and solve his problems.

They were both standing in front of the liquid plumber selection of fine products(that was a joke). What product do you recommend the older man asked. The do-it-yourselfer plumbing expert answered by pointing to a product that he recommended, this seems to do a pretty good job at clearing drains. The older man, having been around the block before, a little more educated than he was a few years ago, from his previous purchases of a product that claimed to perform a task, but didn't.

If this was a young man or woman, I would have waited until the home improvement specialist left the area and then, I would've explained who I was, and my experience with a few of these products. However, I felt that this man, who looked like he was in his late 60s or early 70s, should've known better. I chose the let him help the economy with his purchase. I guess in a sense, I was doing my good deed for the day.

Their conversation soon ended as the in-house plumbing expert left to advise another customer, hopefully on something that he actually knew something about. The older gentleman selected a different product and quickly scaned the area to make sure that the person who had assisted him wasn't around as he scampered off in a hurry.

Here's a quick tip on how to avoid mistakes as a do-it-yourselfer. Don't assume that liquid drain cleaning products will solve your problem. Try not to get caught up in your home improvement advisers solution to your problem. I have watched them sell products to unsuspecting customers and even had them try to sell me something that didn't work.

I personally, have never had any luck unclogging any drain pipes with any liquid drain cleaner. I don't know if my message is loud and clear here and hope that anyone who has gotten this far, reading the article will not believe everything that they read, because the book or product says professional plumbing expert or listen to someone because they're wearing a shirt that says ask me, I'm a home improvement expert.

If you choose to ignore my advice, know this, you will be forever doomed to repeat the mistakes that others have made before you.