How to Unclog a Kitchen Sink Drain
Datetime:2012-10-26 Hits:
How to Unclog a Kitchen Sink Drain
No matter how careful you are, every once in a while the drain in your kitchen sink may become stopped up. Until the clogged drain is fixed, work in your sink comes to a halt. This can cause you to have a dirty kitchen as dishes begin to pile up. Most drains can be unclogged inexpensively and simply by using items already found in your home.
1 Boil some water in a large pan and pour down the drain. This sometimes works best if the drain is clogged from grease. You can also add 1/3 cup vinegar into a large bowl with 1/3 cup baking soda and pour quickly down the sink. The mixture will start to fizz as soon as the two ingredients mix and will help to break apart simple clogs.
2 Get a plunger that has a big enough mouth to cover the drain hole and rub some petroleum jelly over the rim to get a tight seal when you plunge the drain. Run water in the stopped up sink until it will cover the plunger cup and plug up the other side of the sink with a cloth. Press the plunger down onto the drain hole and pump hard about 10 times. You may need someone else to hold the cloth in the other sink to keep the suction while you're plunging. In most cases, this will cause whatever has clogged your kitchen sink drain to clear up.
3 Buy a bottle of chemical drain cleaner. Follow the instructions on the back of the bottle. Make sure that you use gloves and have the room well ventilated before you use chemicals of any kind. Never use a plunger when you have chemical cleaners in the drain as you could splash some of the caustic water on yourself.
4 Use a plumber's snake to unclog your kitchen sink drain. This method is one of the most effective to unclog drains. A plumber's snake is a long coiled wire that is attached to a crank. The snake is slowly forced into the drain or pipeline by turning the crank and usually breaks up a clog as it moves.
5 Bail the water out of the sink and stick the hose of a wet/dry vacuum snugly in the drain. Have some towels ready for any mess that may be made. Set the vacuum in the suck position and turn it on. If the clog doesn't break up after about 30 seconds, switch the vacuum to blow. Repeat until the clog is gone.
