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Cleaning Drains
How to Get Your Shower and Sink Flowing Again
Common Causes of Clogs and Odors
There are essentially three main culprits behind clogs and unpleasant drain odors:
Hair and dead skin cells
When showering, washing your hands, and during your skincare and facial routines, hair and dead skin cells will naturally shed. These can build up over time and result in a clogged shower drain or clogged sink.
Soap, shampoo, etc.
Residue from soap, shampoo, or creams can also build up over time, interfering with proper water flow and causing unpleasant odors over time.
Dry P-trap
The water barrier that normally prevents odors can dry out if drains aren’t used frequently enough. Unpleasant odors from the sewage system can more easily make their way up the pipes as a result.
Effective Household Solutions
There are several effective household solutions you can use to clean the drain in your sink or shower. Along with being easy to use and environmentally friendly, they’re also effective for every kind of drain:
Rinse with hot water
Light deposits can usually be cleared simply by running hot water through the drain. This method is usually enough to eliminate unpleasant odors, especially in a dry P-trap, since it also restores the water barrier.
Clean the drain with vinegar and baking soda
When cleaning a drain with baking soda, first put a few tablespoons of soda in the drain, then pour about half a cup of vinegar or vinegar essence down the drain. If you don’t have baking soda at home, you can also use baking powder to clean the drain instead. The solution will start to bubble and foam. After around 15 minutes, follow up by pouring hot water down the drain.
Washing soda and citric acid
Washing soda and citric acid work on the same principle as vinegar and baking soda. The only drawback is that the reaction time is slightly longer, about an hour.
Cola
If a clog isn’t too stubborn, using regular old cola can also help. Cola can break down organic materials, helping to unclog a sink or shower drain.
By the way: Household solutions like vinegar and citric acid are also perfect for descaling the faucet.
Tips for Manual Cleaning
Sometimes simply pouring a cleaning solution down the drain isn’t enough. In such cases, you can usually clean drains using manual methods. The following options are available:
Drain snake
A drain snake can usually help, especially in cases where the shower or sink drain is clogged with hair. It consists of a spiral attached to a wire, which is inserted into the drain until it reaches the clog that is blocking the drain. Use a twisting motion to loosen and extract the blockage, then follow up by running water through the now-open drain.
Plunger
You can also use a plunger or large suction cup to clean the drains in the sink and shower. Position it over the drain and then add water until the rubber part of the plunger is fully submerged. Next, use up-and-down pumping motions to create alternating pressure and suction within the pipe. This should clear any blockages in the drain. Any bigger pieces of debris that are washed up can be removed by hand. If the water still isn’t draining freely, repeat the process.
Clean the P-trap manually
This method is recommended when your sink is clogged and other methods haven’t resolved the problem. If your P-trap is easily accessible, you can remove it and clean it manually. Before doing so, be sure to place a bucket under the sink to catch the water from the drain. You can then use a wire brush to clean the part of the P-trap you removed.
Prevention
The best way to prevent stubborn clogs and odors is to clean the drains on a regular basis. For example, you should clean the drain in a walk-in shower before any problems arise, since deposits can easily build up in the shower drain channels. It’s best to remove hair and soap residue right after each shower, then rinse the drain with hot water. Depending on the drain, mesh filters can also be an easy way to catch larger particles before they go down the drain.
By the way: Chemical cleaners should never be used preventively and should only be used in exceptional cases; they can damage the pipes if used too often or if left to sit in the pipes.
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