Down the drain

 

How to unclog the bathroom sink without using chemicals

Every now and then, the drain in the bathroom sink starts to run slow.  That means it's time to get out my handy dandy drain unclogging tools.

 The hook is something my son made when he was around 8 or 9 years old and I've been using it ever since.  He cut a piece of coat hanger and bent the ends to form the handle and hook.  The toothbrush is an old one that had been retired from cleaning teeth.  I like this one because the pointed tip acts as a grip so it doesn't slide on down the drain causing a whole other problem.  If the toothbrush has a hole in the end of the handle, you could tie a string through it so you have something to hold onto just in case it tries to get away on you.

 Our bathroom sink has a pop-up with a lever mechanism down in the drain that allows the pop-up to go up and down.  This lever collects hair, soap and other guck that slows down drainage.  The hook gets down in around the lever and catches the hair and guck allowing you to pull it up and out of the drain.

The next thing I do is use the toothbrush to clean the sides of the drain as far down as it will reach and I use it to clean the pop-up which also gets coated with guck.  I have the water running  while I am cleaning the sides of the drain so everything washes away.  This doesn't take long so not a lot of water gets used and water is more environmentally friendly than using chemicals.

(pop-up Home Depot)

 These steps take very little time to do and you have a properly running drain once again without using any chemicals.  Do you unclog your drains without chemicals?

Green Highlights:

• reuse an old toothbrush
• do not need chemicals
• costs next to nothing

-TJ