It might be distressing and irritating to discover that your kitchen sink is clogged. The good news is that many households face this issue on a daily basis, and there is a remedy. When you discover a clogged sink in your home, you don’t have to panic.
Some clogging can be severe, and you will require a professional to fix the sink, but others are easy to fix, and you can opt for DIY. The common ways to unclog kitchen sinks are by boiling water, plunging, and opening the garbage disposal.
Ignoring the clogged sink could lead to more significant problems that cost you more money and time to repair. If you need experienced plumbers that you can count on, click here. These experts provide quality services and are committed to honesty.
But first, let us look at why your sink can get clogged.
Reasons your Kitchen Sink Drain Clogged
A clogged sink does not mean that you are a lazy or a careless homeowner. Besides, knowing why your kitchen sink is clogged will help you prevent future clogging. For example, one of the significant causes of sink clogging is food remains.
Check out the other common causes of sink clogging.
1. Fats and Oil
Homeowners use fats and oils to prepare most foods. When washing the dishes, they pour the oil and grease down the kitchen drainage system. The oils accumulate and harden with time, preventing food particles and other dirt from passing.
The annoying clogs also prevent water from running down the drain. Failure to unclog the sink can cause odors and the growth of bacteria. To avoid fat clogs, ensure you dump the oils and grease in a different place and throw them in the garbage.
2. Expanding Starch
When washing rice, potatoes, and beans, some pieces could fall into the sink and go down the drainage. When exposed to moisture, the rice, potatoes, and beans get filled with water and expand to clog the sink.
Be careful when washing starches in the sink. You can wash in a separate bowl and sieve the water to ensure no particles fall into the drainage system. Although it is a lot of work, you won’t have to worry about opening up your kitchen drainage.
3. Soap Scum
Another significant cause of kitchen sink clogs is soap scum. Soap manufacturers use fat ingredients and mix them with hard minerals to make these detergents. Since homeowners use the soaps to clean utensils, they cause nasty clogs in the pipes.
You can get soap-free cleaners to prevent your kitchen sink drainage from clogging. Contact a professional plumber to pressure clean the pipes and remove any soap scums when the blockage happens.
4. Toys and Small Objects
Do you let your kids play in the kitchen, mainly around the sink area? Some could drop their toys like marbles and figurines in the sink and not tell you about it. Some of these toys are too big to go down the drain, so they remain stuck and cause clogs.
Making the kitchen a no playing zone for your kids will protect you from the stress of dealing with clogged sinks. Alternatively, you can cover the sink with sink covers to prevent big objects from going down the drainage system.
How To Fix Clogged Sink
If you just found out that your sink is not allowing water to drain, it could be because of the aforementioned reasons. The next step is fixing the clogging before it causes more significant damage. Try these steps to fix your clogged kitchen sink.
1. Pour Boiling Water
Oil, grease, and soap scums can quickly melt when exposed to high temperatures. Since you cannot heat the sink, pouring boiling water is a perfect solution. Follow these simple steps to unclog the kitchen sink using hot water effortlessly.
- Boil 1 liter of water in a kettle
- Pour the hot water directly into the sink’s openings and let it run into the drain.
- Once all the hot water drains, open the faucet to see if the sink works correctly.
Avoid using the hot water method if your drainage system is made from PVC. The hot water could damage the pipes, and replacing them is more expensive than using another way to unclog them.
2. Use a Plunger
If the hot water method of unclogging the sink did not work, try plunging it. You can use a new toilet plunger or a flat bottomed one to push down any residue in your sink’s pipe.
Put boiling water in the sink and place the plunger over the drain. Pump the plunger up and down quickly to push down any rice or food particles. After a few pushes, stop and wait to see if the water drains freely. You can repeat the process until there is continuous drainage of the water.
3. Use Baking Soda and Vinegar
Do not think of using chemical ingredients yet, because they could affect your drainage pipes. Baking soda and vinegar solutions are perfectly natural ways to remove clogs in your kitchen drainage.
Before using the solution, drain all the water in the sink using a bowl. These steps will help you achieve favorable results.
- Fetch a cup of baking powder using a spatula and pour it on the sink opening.
- Pour a cup of white vinegar and cover the sink with the cover or stopper.
- Leave the mixture to react for about 15 minutes, and then pour hot water down the drain.
- The hot water will break any remaining notorious clogs. You could repeat the process if the first attempts were not successful.
4. Use a Plumber’s Snake
If you suspect the cause of the clog to be big debris that needs breaking down, you can use the spiral snake to hit it. This tool reaches the drain so you can get to the trash and push it down the drainage.
Luckily, there are more powerful electric plumber drainage snakes. However, ensure you are gentler when pushing the clog because you could damage the pipes. You can then run water to see if the clogging has been dealt with.
Final Words
Finding out that your kitchen sink is clogged can be frustrating, but there are ways to fix the clogging. You could first find out the cause of the clog or try the different methods to unclog until you find one that works for you.
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