The Dangers of Using Chemical Drain Cleaners (and Safer Alternatives)
If you’ve ever had a slow drain at your home, it’s likely that you may have reached for a bottle of Drano of Liquid-Plumr. While it may seem like a logical solution to handling your drainage issue, it’s important to be mindful of the dangers of chemical drain cleaners. Below, we’ll dive into more details about what these dangers are and discuss some safe alternatives to Drano.
Are Chemical Drain Cleaners Safe?
If you’ve ever taken a look at the bottle of chemical drain cleaners, then you know the “cleaner” has some really corrosive ingredients. These are present in all drain-cleaning gels, foams, and liquids. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is a powerful chemical that generates heat while it dissolves organic matter, such as grease. Sulfuric acid is used to break down soap scum and minerals.
Bleach and oxidizers are typically added to remove odors and boost the cleaning power of the chemical cleaner. Unfortunately, when you put such chemicals as sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, bleach, and oxidizer down your drain, they can violently react with your piping.
How Can They Damage Piping?
When you first start using a chemical drain cleaner, you may believe that it works great as it dissolves the clogged material. However, when you start using chemical drain cleaners more frequently, they can cause major damage to your plumbing system. It’s important to understand the different ways that damage can happen so that you can make a better-informed decision about whether or not you really want to use them in your home.
Pipe Corrosion and Weakening
One of the most obvious ways that chemical drain cleaners can affect your piping is by corroding it and weakening it. The heat that’s generated to dissolve the clogged material also attacks the inside of your piping. Pipe materials, like PVC, metal, and even some newer PEX, can crack, warp, and corrode over time. This can lead to costly water damage in your home and, ultimately, the need to call Drain Time Plumbing to replace the piping.
Seal and Joint Damage
It’s fairly common for many homes in the Sacramento and Elk Grove areas to have mixed piping materials. Your home may have older metal lines that connect to newer PVC lines. Whenever you use these chemical drain cleaners, they can eat away at the pipe joints and their rubber seals. As these joint seals deteriorate, water can start leaking out of your pipes and creating damage to your home.
Trapped Chemicals
While just flushing these chemical drain cleaners can be very damaging to your piping, it’s important to keep in mind that sometimes they don’t always make it to the city’s sewer line. Sometimes, these chemical cleaners can get trapped inside your piping. This can eventually lead to excessive corrosion as the chemical sits stagnant in your pipe.
Garbage Disposal Damage
Another thing to keep in mind if you use a chemical drain cleaner is that you could be damaging your garbage disposal if you put it down your sink. Anywhere you pour that chemical, it can come into contact with your appliance and shorten its lifespan. Chemical drain cleaners are well-known to damage gaskets, seals and other internal components of these appliances.
How Can They Affect Your Family?
There’s no doubt that chemical drain cleaners can be quite damaging to your home’s plumbing system. However, it’s also important to know that they can be dangerous to your family. This even includes the animals in your home.
Toxic Fumes
Whenever chemical drain cleaners react with contaminants in your pipe and start to heat up and dissolve, they release toxic fumes. These fumes can irritate your eyes, nose, and even your respiratory system. If you’re using these drain cleaners in a poorly ventilated or small location, breathing them could cause coughing, dizziness, and other health-related issues.
Skin and Eye Burns
The chemicals in these drain cleaners are notorious for causing skin and eye burns. If you’re not wearing adequate safety protection when using these products, it could be dangerous. Just accidentally spilling a little bit of cleaner on your hand can lead to a serious burn. Even by having your face near the drain when you’re pouring the cleaner down, it can expose you to any splashing due to the bubbling of the cleaner as it starts to work.
Ingestion Hazard
Chemical drain cleaners can be especially risky to use around pets and children. Any bit of residue left over, like a few drops around a drain, can be dangerous. Pets and children can easily touch or lick that residue and experience harm.
Eco-Friendly Drain Cleaner
Because of all the risks associated with chemical drain cleaners, they’re not recommended for most homeowners. However, if you want to try solving your drain clog on your own, there are safer and smarter alternatives that you can use. Below, we’ll take a look at what some of these alternatives are so that you have potential options when experiencing a problem with your plumbing system.
Enzyme-Based Drain Cleaners
A popular alternative to chemical drain cleaners is enzyme-based drain cleaners. These are more natural cleaners that use beneficial bacteria or enzymes to naturally break down organic matter, such as grease, soap scum, and hair. These do work more slowly than chemical cleaners but are much safer for your piping, famil,y and the environment. This is typically recommended as a preventive tool for monthly maintenance to keep your drains flowing freely.
Manual Removal Tools
There are some manual removal tools that you can purchase to help get rid of clogs in your drain. A popular option is a plunger that can be used for both sink and toilet clogs. It’s vital that you purchase the appropriate plunger for your application, as there are multiple kinds.
Another tool that’s becoming more commonly used is a hair clog remover, which goes down the drain slightly to collect any hair close to the drain’s surface. You can also opt for getting a drain snake, which is a flexible cable you feed down your access pipe. It has a specialized head that you use to bust up the clog material into smaller pieces that you can flush down the drain.
Professional Drain Cleaning in Elk Grove
Our plumbing company in Sacramento can help with both preventive maintenance and clog removal. With our professional tools, like hydro jetting, we can effectively break up any clog materials with high-pressure water. This is great for ensuring all the debris flushes down your drain line. This drain-cleaning service is perfect to use at least once a year for preventive maintenance. It will also scour the inside of your sewer line to remove any stuck-on debris that could otherwise lead to a clog.
Professional Drain-Cleaning Service
Drain Time Plumbing offers 24/7 professional drain cleaning service for Elk Grove and the greater Sacramento area. We can also assist with all your plumbing repairs, installation and inspection needs. Instead of searching for a “plumber near me,” simply contact Drain Time Plumbing today for assistance.
