The kitchen drain is magical; it makes messes disappear whether it is table scraps, peelings from vegetables, week old salsa from the refrigerator, used salad oils or the occasional eggshell. This is until the inevitable happens and the first signs of a clog appear; the sink begins to fill with drain water. At this point, we usually reach for a liquid drain cleaner and get ready to use it until we read the outside of the container. Bold letters stating CHEMICAL HAZARD; do not mix with a variety of household cleaners. Do not expose skin to the liquid as it might cause chemical burns. Do not let children and/or pets near it. The list goes on.
Our caution might be overcome by the ease in which the product works, however the chemical that is harmful to us is also harmful to the beneficial bacteria used in our septic tanks to breakdown the organic material in the wastewater. In addition, even if you are on a municipal sewer system, the breakdown of chemicals is not a foregone conclusion.
There are safer alternatives.
- The first solution is prevention. In the professional kitchens I have worked, there is always a debate as to whether garbage disposals need to be installed on the sink drains. At first, it seems like an ideal way to prevent large pieces of food from clogging the drain. However, in practice, workers in a professional kitchen are more likely to load up the drain with food and overburden the garbage disposal causing expensive repairs. The same can happen in a home kitchen as well.
Instead, a simple drain cover is used to block the larger food particles from going down the drain in the first place. They same approach can be used in the home kitchen. Purchase a drain cover that allows water to flow through but stops all but the tiniest food particles from going down the drain. The good news is that the non-meat based food scraps can be used in your compost pile.
- The second solution is mechanical in nature. All kitchen sink drains have what plumbers call a trap in it. This trap is designed to stop sewer odors from reentering the house but it is also the first place to check when the sink is clogged. If you have a large crescent wrench and thirty minutes, it is easy to open the trap and remove the clog. Just make sure you have a bucket to capture the water that sits in the trap. Another mechanical option is the use of drain snake, which consist of putting a flexible tube down the drain, spinning and turning the deeper it goes, breaking up the clog. I would suggest this method only for seasoned do-it-yourselfers otherwise call in the plumber. The last mechanical recommendation is to use a plunger to push the clog through the system into the larger sewer pipe.
- A third solution is using non-toxic solutions such as combination of baking soda and vinegar to clean the drain. There are hundreds of different variations of this method on the web, we have used the following effectively.
- Close any secondary drain holes. If there is no mechanical way to close them, stuffing a rag or a washcloth will work.
- Spoon dry baking soda into the drain until the drain is about ¾ filled.
- Add one cup of vinegar to the drain.
- Cover immediately.
- Let sit for twenty-five minutes.
- Flush with hot water for ten minutes.
- Repeat if necessary.
The vinegar and baking soda react together and cause a white-foam, which will break up the clog and push it forward. The hot water clears the rest of the clog.
If none of these works, it might be time to call in the plumber. Before requesting, their services discuss with them the importance to you of a non-toxic solutions. In most cases, they will use a mechanical solution such as drain snake. They will have access to drain snakes that are not only more flexible but offer the additional benefit of pressurized water, which can push the clog out of the system for good.
Please let me know if you have additional solutions and I will post them for my readers.
John Thalheimer