Why Your Drains Are Slow (And What Actually Fixes It)

A slow drain is your plumbing's way of saying "deal with me now, or deal with me later when I'm completely clogged and it's 9 PM on a Sunday."

What's Actually Down There

Kitchen sinks: grease, soap scum, and food particles. The grease is the real problem. It coats the inside of your pipes, then everything else sticks to it. After a few months, you've got a pipe that's half its original diameter.

Bathroom sinks: hair and toothpaste. Sounds harmless, but hair wraps around everything and creates a net that catches more hair. It's like a disgusting snowball effect.

Showers and tubs: hair and soap scum. Same deal as bathroom sinks, but worse because there's more of it. One person sheds about 50-100 hairs per day, and a lot of that ends up circling your drain.

Toilets: let's not talk about it. But also, people flush things they shouldn't. "Flushable" wipes are not flushable. They're lying.

What Actually Works

For minor clogs, boiling water works. Pour it slowly in two or three stages, letting it work for a few seconds between pours. This melts grease and soap buildup. Don't do this with PVC pipes though—boiling water can loosen the joints. Stick to hot tap water for plastic.

Baking soda and vinegar: dump half a cup of baking soda down the drain, follow with half a cup of vinegar, wait 30 minutes, flush with hot water. Does it work? Sometimes. It's not magic, but it's cheap and won't hurt anything.

A real plunger: not the toilet plunger. Get a flat-bottomed sink plunger. Cover the drain completely, fill the sink with enough water to cover the plunger cup, then plunge 15-20 times with actual force. Half-hearted plunging does nothing.

Drain snake: for $10-30 you can get a hand snake that reaches 15-25 feet. Feed it down the drain, twist when you hit resistance, pull out the gross stuff, rinse, repeat. This actually removes clogs instead of just pushing them further down.

What Doesn't Work (But People Try Anyway)

Chemical drain cleaners: Drano and its cousins. They work sometimes, but they're harsh on pipes, especially older ones. They create heat that can crack pipe joints. And if it doesn't work, now you've got a clog AND caustic chemicals sitting in your pipe that we have to deal with. Save these for absolute emergencies.

Pouring grease down the drain followed by hot water: this doesn't work. The grease makes it 10 feet down your pipe, cools off, and hardens. Now your clog is somewhere you can't reach. Just pour grease in a can and throw it away.

When to Call Someone

Multiple drains are slow: this means the clog is in your main line, not an individual drain. Don't mess with this yourself.

Water backs up into other drains: like flushing the toilet makes the shower drain bubble. This is also a main line issue.

You tried everything and it's still slow: sometimes the clog is too far down, too big, or too hardened for DIY methods. Professional drain cleaning with a real auger costs $150-400 depending on the severity. It's worth it.

How to Not Deal With This Again

Put a mesh drain cover over every drain. Catches hair and food before it goes down. Costs $5, takes 2 seconds to install, eliminates 90% of clogs.

Never pour grease down the drain. Not bacon grease, not cooking oil, not butter. None of it.

Run hot water for 30 seconds after using the sink. Helps flush soap and small particles through before they stick.

Clean your drains monthly with the baking soda and vinegar trick. Prevention beats repair.