Clogged Pipe Nightmare

Ever had a frustrating moment with your sink pipes clogged? I mean, water is just not flowing down the drain pipe and is literally stuck? You're thinking of pouring down hot boiling water, or a bottle of solution you've bought from the mart, down the pipe. But first, you'll need to get the water, which is already filling up the sink, cleared, before you can do that. What works?

The plunger! I mean, use the old fashion and reliable plunger! That's if you want to avoid opening up the P-trap under the sink and remove all the years of accumulated unwanted pieces of nightmarish blackish waste glued around the inside wall of the pipe with your, preferably gloved, hands. Need I mention the stomach-wrenching odour too?

We have a double sink and while I was out browsing for movies at a local video shop on a nice hot Saturday afternoon my wife text'd me that the sink was clogged, and the water stubbornly refused to go down despite using the plunger. Also, that she couldn't cook so long as the sink was stuck.

Well, she came to the right place. I mean, the right person. I'm usually the handyman at home. Fixing my own bathroom flush tank, replacing broken faucets, some simple stuff, here and there, so long as it's not electrical nor major piping. It's only a matter of 'when' I get to work. But this.. this was critical, if I ever want to get home food into my stomach. So off I went to the only place opened for business, Ace Hardware, the place where I could spend hours looking at wares and not buying.. if I have hours to spare that is.

It took a good 30 minutes to select a good solution, in my opinion, and a good chunk off my coffer, which coame to RM33+. This one says you get to pour only 1/5 of the bottle into the drain pipes and leave the sink unused for 15 minutes for the solution to clear the clog. As for other products you have to pour half and that leaves you one more chance. Here the picture of the bottle which I bought:

When I reached home I saw evidence of unsuccessful attempt by my wife in using the plunger; water was stuck in both adjoining sink. So with her help in using a stopper in one sink, I started popping the plunger on the other sink. At first I was doing it the wrong way in lifting the plunger over the water after each pop. Water still remained. Then I started popping the plunger up and down a few counts before lifting it over the water and repeated the steps. The water gradually began to subside after each succession and I realised that the up/down strokes helped to shake the clog loose from it's hold.

Finally, after successfully having freed the sink, I cleared the remaining muck off the sink and began to pour 1/5 of the Liquid-Plumr solution into the sink and let it do its magic for the next 15 minutes. Anyway, it all took less than 5 minutes to clear the clog.

If you moved into a new home, but it's actually a second-hand house and has not been occupied for a good 6 - 12 months, and you find that the kitchen pipes are clogged, don't bother with any solution, be it acidic or not. Forget the steps I told you about. Go get a plumber or contractor. They'll do a better job.