How to Unclog a Drain With Standing Water

How Often Should You Clean Your Drains?

If you are standing in a puddle of water in the shower, you may be wondering how to unclog a drain with standing water. If you have ever wondered how often you should clean out the drains in your home, searching the internet will give you plenty of different and often opposing answers. The reason there are so many differing answers is because unclogging a drain depends on a lot of factors. Keeping your drains clear will help you avoid major plumbing problems. Team Electric Plumbing & Air can help. Learn more about the factors that influence the performance of your drains.

The Factors That Influence Clogged Drains

In every home there are high use areas. When you think of drains that are used the most, you can probably list your main bathroom and your kitchen sink. There is also the question of what is going down the sink. If you have a house full of teenagers with long luxurious hair, you will be unclogging their drain frequently to restore water flow and drainage.

Sink and shower drains do not like hair. If your home is full of children, the chance of finding anything from toys to pencils in a drain will increase significantly. Now that you know the factors of dirty drains, there is something you should never do. Depending on the factors you could be unclogging a drain in your home once a month for high use areas, or twice a year for drains that are hardly ever used. Need assistance? Schedule a drain cleaning appointment with our team of drain cleaning plumbers in New Jersey. We also offer other plumbing services such as water line repair, kitchen sink installation, water heater repair, toilet repair, shower installation, and gas line installation.

How to Unclog a Sink Drain at Home

When you have a slow drain, avoid the urge to use chemical drain cleaners. Drain cleaners dissolve blockages, but they can also damage your pipes. If you constantly use drain cleaner, you are effectively reducing the life expectancy of your plumbing system. Instead of using drain cleaners, here are a few proactive steps you can take that will reduce the risk for clogs.

Reduce the Risk

Kitchen Sink: Just because you have a garbage disposal doesn’t mean you should use it as a garbage can. Our drain cleaning plumbers recommend scraping food in garbage cans. Also, do not pour grease down the drain.

Bathroom Sink: With long luxurious hair comes great responsibility. After styling, instead of rinsing your hair down the sink gather it up and put it in the garbage. This will eliminate the need to frequently unclog your drains

Bathroom Shower: If the drain in your shower doesn’t have a grate, install one. This will keep more than 75% of the hair from going down the drain.

 

How to Unclog a Sink Drain in Your Home

Even with precautions you will still need learn how to unclog a sink drain in areas such as the kitchen, basement, and laundry room. In high use areas, monthly is great. To clean out your sink, you will need a bucket, a towel, a metal clothing hanger and some pliers. Under your sink, there is a plastic nut with a metal rod coming out of it. This holds your sink plug in place.

Put the bucket under the P trap and unscrew the nut and remove the rod. Now you can change positions and look at the top of the sink. You should now be able to pull out your sink plug. Once the sink plug is removed, you will officially begin the process of unclogging a drain. Next, take the wire clothing hanger, cut it and form a small loop with your pliers. You can use this loop to fish out hair and other debris. If something large went down your drain, you can remove the P trap. You can use the same looped clothing hanger for your shower and tub drains.

Need assistance with with HVAC issue in your home? Our team also offers services such as furnace installation, air conditioning repair, gas furnace repair, air conditioning installation, and boiler repair. Schedule an appointment online to receive assistance with your project.

Team Electric Plumbing & Air

Teaching yourself how to unclog a drain with standing water is not an easy process. To avoid damage to your plumbing system, call the professionals with Team Electric Plumbing & Air. Give us a call by phone at (732) 201-3305 to schedule a professional drain cleaning appointment in New Jersey. We can unclog drains and fix plumbing problems in your home. Give us a call. We also offer electrical repair services such as outlet installation, appliance installation, light switch installation,  outdoor lighting replacement, and commercial parking lot lighting replacement.