In spite of all good intentions we all drop things in the drain of the sink, shower or toilet (hair and hairpins, bits of cotton and even, for some innocent ladies, panty liners) which end up clogging the drain pipes. This causes a serious nuisance because of the impossibility to use that sink or toilet and make the house owner panic about the prospect of having to call al plumber and perhaps face an elevated bill for a problem which could have been avoided with a little more care. We'll show you how it's possible, with the right tools, to try to resolve the problem without having to pay a plumber for an intervention.
The tool that we should all keep in our house in view of a blocked drain, is an ordinary rubber plunger. The plunger is the first tool to use in case of a blocked drain, especially when this drain is that of a sink, toilet or bidet; it's a bit more problematic in case of a blocked toilet, but also in this case it's well worth a try.
Here are in good order the methods to use in case of a blocked drain.
The use of the plunger for a blocked drain
If it's the sink that is blocked you can use an ordinary rubber plunger; carefully closing the overflow hole and with the sink half-full with water, you put the cup over the drain hole and thoroughly push it down a couple of times.
If it's a toilet that is blocked, you'll have to use a suitable toilet plunger with a conical-shaped lower part and a big rubber cup.Once the cup is placed well over the bottom of the toilet you forcefully push it down a couple of times, paying attention that there is no water returning to the other bathroom fittings, which may happen if the blockage is not immediately in the vicinity of the toilet.
Flexible augers
If the plunger didn't work, you have to revert to a sink auger which has a flexible metal cable with a handle at one end and a steel auger at the other. This flexible probe comes at a certain cost but it'll probably still be cheap compared to a plumber's bill, even when he's using exactly the same device.
Insert the probe through the main hole of the sink, if it can get through in the first place, otherwise you'll have to dismount the syphon. It is nevertheless advisable to dismount the syphon anyway because it's easily done and if the blockage is in this part of the drain it will be easy to remove it. The further the blockage is from the sink, however, the more difficult it will become to deal with it; for this reason it may become necessary to remove as many parts of the drain as possible in order to bring the probe closer to the problem. The effectiveness of the probe will always be greater if the unblocked drain portion is shorter.
The same method can also be used on showers, bathtubs and toilets. In some cases you may have to remove the sink strainer before inserting the probe, like with a shower, while in other cases you could use the overflow hole like in a bathtub.
Using the air compressor for removing a drain blockage
If none of the above-mentioned methods worked, you could always try an air compressor. The compressor works on the principle of accumulated air, compressed in a small container. It's operation is simple: once the compressor has been “charged”, you just put the compressor tube on the hole leading to the blockage. Try to close the overflow hole as well as possible with wet cloths and fill the sink with water. At this point, with the compressor tube properly positioned, you pull the trigger; the force of the shock, coming from the sudden release of compressed air into the drain is often sufficient to remove even the toughest of objects that can block a tube.
Chemical agents
In your local supermarket you'll easily find chemical products that will remove any kind of blockage, even when you've got standing water in your sink. Our opinion is that they can be especially useful in case the water already leaks away slowly so you can clean the drains several times. They're at their best however only for ordinary maintenance; use them even though there is no evdient blockage but simply to keep the drains clean. In case of standing water, their effectiveness is somewhat doubtful and mechanical means remain the best solution, even though they are the least practical.