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unclogging a sink - without toxic gick

 
Trailboss
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My bathroom sink seems to have less flow than it used to. So my mind is wandering to how to solve that. I'm guessing that there is party of toothpaste and hair accumulating in the drain somewhere.

I've lived in some places for years and never had a problem. I wonder why that is?

And I remember doing the liquid plummer a couple of times in my ignorant youth.

I wonder what hydrogen peroxide would do down there ... and what would it do to the pipes?
 
Sheriff
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I've had luck with vinegar.
Some say the foaming action created when mixed with baking soda helps but I think it would just neutralize the acid in the vinegar and make it less effective.

An occasional pot of boiling water is also good for loosening up soap scum.
 
lowercase baba
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i took the trap off my downstairs bathroom about 4 years after i bought my house. having never used that BR to brush my teeth, i was somewhat surprised to find a full, adult sized toothbrush in there, along with the other gunk.

put in a new piece of pipe (yes, i broke the old one), and have never looked back.

you can also buy a small snake that goes on the end of a drill, or i've even seen some hand-cranked ones.
[ July 21, 2006: Message edited by: fred rosenberger ]
 
author and iconoclast
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Boiling water does indeed help, but I have found that in a vanity sink the vast majority of the crap is between the trap and the drain. Just taking off the trap and the sink plug, cleaning all the sludge off the plug, pushing a wet rag down the drain and through the trap with a dowel or other long sticklike object will generally work wonders. But plan on throwing that rag away!
 
ranger
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Let's say someone attacks you with a long sticklike object? What do you do then?

Mark
 
Ben Souther
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Throw that rag at him and run away before he stops puking long enough to retaliate.
 
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