Drain Cleaner Chemicals

A clogged drain is simple enough to fix, right? Pour a heaping helping of chemical drain cleaner down the affected area and let science works its magic. Soon, the drain will be unclogged and everything will be perfect… or maybe not. Although commercially sold chemical drain cleaners are among the most popular home plumbing products, there are plenty of reasons to avoid using them.

Most importantly, the chemicals in drain cleaners are often incredibly caustic. A misused drain cleaner can cause severe skin, eye, and lung damage through simple spills that could occur while pouring them into the clogged drain. Worse still, young children can and will get into an unsecured bottle of drain cleaner. Ingestion of corrosive chemicals can have serious, sometimes fatal, consequences.

Even careful adults can cause harm with drain cleaners, so families with toddlers or pre-schoolers should take special care to avoid having any of these chemicals in their home. As if the danger wasn’t reason enough to avoid using this type of drain cleaner, the truth is they don’t work all that well. While it is true that they are good for very small localized blockages or mineral build ups, they are unable to clean out an entire piping system. Mineral build ups especially tend to plague the entire pipeline. Even if the drain cleaner is able to clear up the area near the pipe entrance, it is very likely that pipes will require professional maintenance soon to avoid any bigger problems.

Professional plumbers have a number of specialized tools that are able to help clean out pipes without the aid of drain cleaning chemicals. A plumber’s snake is able to carefully and correctly break apart clogs and scrape off mineral deposits. Snakes require careful usage and untrained hands could cause serious damage to pipes, so always contact a trained plumber to snake your drains.

Although the television commercials will try to make drain cleaning chemicals seems like the end all, be all of home pipe maintenance, it is often best not to waste your money on these dangerous substances. Instead, find a good local plumber who will be able to make a quick call to your home and help sort out any clogs in your pipes. Not only will they be able to do the best pipe cleaning job, but it might help keep you and your family safe from harm.