Clearing a Clogged Bathroom Sink

Tip: Clearing a Clogged Sink Drain

Jess
Silver Post Medal for All Time! 267 Posts

January 17, 2019

A slow draining sink. My bathroom sink had been draining slowing for a while and it was finally time to figure it out. I found a recipe on ThriftyFun for homemade Drano, using salt, baking soda, vinegar and water. It didn't go quite as planned but we were successful in the end.

Link: Homemade Drano

Steps:

First, I added 1 cup of plain salt, pouring it down the drain and letting it mound up. I then put a cup of baking soda on top of the pile.

A pile of salt and baking soda piled in a sink drain.

Next, I added 1/2 cup of vinegar. I used apple cider but white would work just as well. It foamed up for a while.

Adding vinegar to the baking soda and salt cause the mixture to foam up.

This is after boiling water was added to the drain. I used a full electric kettle, probably about 2 quarts. I was a bit concerned about the porcelain cracking, as is reported sometimes with toilets. I think it is the temperature difference that causes the porcelain to expand. But the sink seemed fine.

The initial water is yellow because of the apple cider vinegar but later is due to the clogged pipe. The boiling water would also make it foam up.

Adding boiling water to help clear blocked drain.

I let it sit for about an hour and then repeated the process as it was obviously doing something. Nearly all the water had drained out but there was a lot of gunk that had bubbled up. I had an appointment that afternoon so I figured I would leave it and deal with it when I got home.

A collection of dirt and drain flies that came up from the drain as it cleared.

Somehow, the sink looked WORSE when I got home. It hadn't drained nearly as much as the first time and wasn't draining at all now. It was also disgusting, with dead drain flies and rusty colored sludge. My husband had left for work but there was evidence that he had cleaned up some new mess in the bathroom. I got out the plunger to see if I could unblock it and discovered what mess he must have cleaned up. Water shot directly out of the overflow drain all over the backsplash. He was at work until late and I have little plumbing experience so I decided to leave it until he got home and discuss it with him later.

Hours later, the water level looked basically the same. I was inclined to go and buy a plumber's snake but my husband recommended removing the P-trap under the sink first. If the blockage was past the trap, we could then snake farther down the pipe.

The sink is not draining the next morning.

We first placed a dishpan and towel under the sink, to catch the water that was definitely going to drain out.

Placing a dishpan under the ptrap to catch any liquid.

The P-trap simply unscrewed, requiring no tools. I probably would have attempted this the night before had I realized how simple it was. The gross dirty water all dumped down into the dishpan.

A dishpan full of dirty water and clogged hair.

There was a sizeable chunk of hair in the trap, as you can see. I have long hair and both of my teenage sons do as well. We also have a dog that sheds everywhere. I suspect they have not been too careful about making sure the hair doesn't get in the drain and it accumulated. It probably was mostly on the sides of the drain before I used the homemade Drano.

A large wad of hair that has been removed from the drain.

Once everything was back together, the sink drained perfectly. I'm going to use the homemade Drano recipe on a regular basis to keep this from getting clogged again. I also did my bathtub at the same time, just in case.

Placing thread seal tape on the threads before putting the ptrap back together.

Next, I need to bleach the worn porcelain, which has some dirty yellow spots. I'm planning on painting the sink and replacing the faucet, which we purchased months ago. I will post about that when it gets done (assuming it turns out).