Store-bought liquid drain cleaners aren’t hard to come by. You can get a bottle of them in pretty much any grocery store or hardware store, right where you’ll find any other cleaning solution. The companies who produce these solutions put a lot of time and money into marketing these products as the standard for drain cleaning and resolving stubborn clogs, but the fact is they are simply not as effective as these companies would lead you to believe.
No experienced and trained plumber will ever recommend these “solutions” as a method for drain cleaning in Encinitas, CA. That’s because store-bought drain cleaners aren’t effective, they are harmful to your plumbing system, they’re very toxic, and they’re bad for the environment. Keep reading to learn more!
They’ll Never Work as Effectively as They Say They Will
Drain cleaners are sometimes referred to as drain openers. This is actually a more appropriate name for them. That’s because they don’t actually clean your drainpipes. Rather, they eat through a portion of the clog to enable water to flow through again. But, the debris of the clog remains in your pipes, meaning the clog will just reform.
They’ll Actually Damage Your Plumbing
So, how do these solutions actually eat through a clog, anyway? Well, with acid. If that sounds bad, it’s because it is. That acid can have a negative impact on the metal or plastic of your drainpipes. Drain cleaner chemicals often remain within the pipe after they’ve been used, leading to corrosion of the pipelining. The heavier the clog, the worse it is, because it means the chemicals sit longer within your pipes.
The Chemicals Are Toxic
You can make a safe bet that if liquid drain cleaners use acid to eat through clogs, then they are probably pretty toxic. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to ingest it, but it can even be an irritant for your skin or your eyes. That’s because of the lye and sulfuric acid in these bottles. In fact, the EPA identifies these cleaners as a major household toxin. Even the vapor in the air after putting these chemicals down the drain is harmful and can burn your eyes.
They Harm the Environment
After you’ve used these drain cleaners and throw away the plastic bottle, it ends up in a landfill—and it’s rarely fully empty. The residue inside them sticks to the walls, and once in a landfill, the chemicals will begin to seep into the ground and even the groundwater.
What Does Safe and Effective Drain Cleaning Look Like?
For safe and effective drain cleaning methods, you needn’t look any further than our team. We use the best professional drain cleaning methods, whether it’s using a standard drain snake to remove the clog or hydro-jetting for more stubborn problems. Neither of these methods will harm your plumbing, but both should only be performed by a trained and experienced plumber, to avoid injury or damage to your plumbing.
Contact Paws Plumbing, Inc. for dependable plumbing services.