5 Things to Do if You Want to Unclog Your Kitchen Sink
Are you staring at a clogged kitchen sink? Is the stagnating water in the sink making you feel sick? The good news is you can unclog the sink without calling a plumber or pouring hazardous chemicals down the drain.
You can use everyday materials you have at home to take care of this annoying problem. Read below our list of 5 Things to Do if You Want to Unclog Your Kitchen Sink. And then let us know if you have any tips to add!
Trick 1: Don’t Put Vegetable Peelings Down Disposal
Although the garbage disposal is a powerful and useful way to get rid of food waste, it is not meant for certain vegetables. Don’t put potato, carrot or celery peelings down the disposal. These veggies are fibrous or contain a lot of starch which can jam the disposal motor and clog your sink drain-piping every time. There are other food items that occasionally will clog your sink. If this happens, follow the next four tips.
Trick 2: Use Your Plunger
Plunger is a must-have tool for every household because it can be used to unclog any drain in any part of the house including the kitchen. Yes, the simple plunger can unclog your kitchen sink too. When you use the plunger, plug the other holes in you kitchen sink with a rag cloth. Also, ensure that the plunger cup completely covers the clogged kitchen sink hole. Now, keep the plunger in an upright position and plunge about ten times vigorously. This should remove any vegetable peels, food leftovers or any other solids in the kitchen sink.
Trick 3: Clear the P-trap
The P-trap is the pipe below your sink that’s shaped like the letter P (on its side). You should be able to spot it when you look in the cabinet below your sink. This pipe, shaped to provide a seal against sewer odors, gets clogged when receiving larger solid objects. To unclog the P-trap, you need a pair of gloves and a bucket. You should unscrew the large nut on both the sides of the trap with your bare hands and remove the pipe. Make sure you place a bucket right below the trap to collect all the unclogged water. You can also run your hands through the pipe to remove any solid objects.
Trick 4: Use a Metal Wire
Sometimes using a metal wire to push down or pull up debris from your drain can help unclog your kitchen sink. If you don’t have a metal wire, unbend a wire hanger and use it in the kitchen drain hole. Since this is time-consuming, you’d only use this trick as a last resort. It works well when you know what’s inside the drain.
Trick 5: Use a Drain Snake
Go to your local hardware store and buy a short manual-crank drain snake. This tool is fairly inexpensive and works well unless the clog is further down the drain, past the P-trap.
If none of the above tricks work, then you should call an expert right away, especially since clogged drains are the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria and viruses.
Have you had to deal with a troublesome clogged kitchen sink? What tips would you add to our list of 5 Things to Do if You Want to Unclog Your Kitchen Sink? If you’re ever in need of a plumbing expert witness, don’t forgot to call Ivey Engineering today!
Good article. Another word of warning: if you
decide that you need to put down some toxic chemicals, and it still doesn’t work, when you call a plumber, please inform him that you have already poured some chemicals down the drain. If you don’t tell him, those chemicals can sometimes get all over the poor guy, causing discomfort at best and injury at worst. Please see our blog
page for more about these issues.
Saville, You make a good point! Thanks for your comment.
Some things are best not to dispose in the drain like tea bags, egg shells, pastas or rice etc. Also, try not to dispose too many food materials into the drain. I’ve learned my part of doing these and the only solution was a emergency drain cleaning service, Doctor Rooter, Toronto.
Your post gives some very useful tips on kitchen sink unclogging. Vegetable waste is the main reason for blockage problem.Thanks for sharing useful information.
This is some really good information about blocked drains. I liked that you talked about if you have tried everything else you can give a pipe snack a try. My master bathroom sink has been clogging for several weeks now. I might need to try the thing out. Or at the very least call a plumber to come unclog my sink.
Thankyou for this valuable article.This problem is very common in home kitchen. Your tips are effective for home makers. Keep it up and share more. Also, there are many professionals available who have yeras of experience in solving this problem.