How Often do you guys -clean- your drain lines

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Chefwong

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I'll chalk it up to WFH. More increased usage.
Was putting down ZEP Drain care in the kitchen and bathroom sink as I noticed it running slower than normal.
Bathroom sink was pretty slow from the get go.
Kitchen incrementally getting slower when pouring large volume (2-3G Produce Soak) vs. a slow faucet open/close.


Fast forward today. I know BIO cleaner takes time but it wasn't showing much improvement. Ended up snaking both lines. Wasn't actually expecting much on the kitchen one - but it did have black slime as I pulled the chain back. I suppose its grease pipe wall buildup and whatever dirt gets' entrapped with the grease over time ?

Dunno, but both lines are clear and all is well.

For proactive maintenance presume the buildup happens slowly and not in the trap but just on the walls of the drain. Should I be using Bio Cleaner more often as preventative maintence.

OR

Is the answer that it comes with the territory and lines do need to get snaked every now and then.....
 

Terry

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Home built in 1978 and I've lived here 15 years. I have never snaked my kitchen line. I do use Bio-Clean from time to time, and replace my disposers every eight years. Way cheaper to replace a disposer than to snake kitchen lines.
 

Chefwong

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Home built in 1978 and I've lived here 15 years. I have never snaked my kitchen line. I do use Bio-Clean from time to time, and replace my disposers every eight years. Way cheaper to replace a disposer than to snake kitchen lines.


Hi Terry -

Don't have disposers.....I do know what part of the issue is with just the kitchen line I suspect. Based on my username, I cook quite a bit. Even before WFH. Pans or dishes are never really oily. I actually even scoop out -oil- from the top of soup stock and the oil goes in the trash. I'm aware to not put this stuff down my drains. I will use a paper towel and wipe a oily pan clean before it goes into the sink to minimize oil in my lines as a practice

My hood grates however , do get thrown in the dishwasher. I don't wait for them to get mucky....but hood grates do their job in that they capture the atomozied oil onto the metal. I suspect between the dishwasher cycle and then the 1 or 2X rinse cycle (which uses very little water overall), when I run the dishwasher cycle @ night, and once the rinse water goes down into the trap, etc - said water is semi stagnent/sitting in some form of fashion due to the very little water of the dishwasher and the same lines not being (flushed) with residual use since we have gone to sleep for the night. Hope this makes sense in what I think is part of the issue.....or at least on my radar, of not good practice .

------
U should have heard my diagnosis. Bathroom sink was slow drain from the immediate
Kitchen was noticably slower but not complete slow backup unless I poured 3G into the drain from a produce basin.
Since the bathroom was ontop, I was thinking it had to be the vent stack.
I haven't seen that black squirrel that has been destroying my lawn in 2 weeks. Maybe he got stuck....

Extension ladder...roof. Yikes. No fun
Ran a hose down the vent. No change.
Lugged a Jetter and Jetted the Vent Line !
I did feel some resistance as I ran the line in whole. Yippe. Thinking problem solved.
No change.

Ultimately it wasn't the dang vent line but it needed a good old fashioned snake.
I would have jetted it....but I did not want the mess indoors.
The jetter probably might have give it a good deep clean on the ID of the drain walls
 

Terry

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Lav drains tend to get most of their muck in the vertical from the bowl into the p-trap. I pull out the stoppers, remove the trap and push a wad of paper down into a bowl.

The kitchen sink lines can get pretty greased up. Restaurants buy a lot of Bio-Clean for their grease traps and some cities make them do that to prevent problems down line.

grease_2249.jpg


A kitchen line with no grease poured down the sink. At least that's what she told me.
 

Chefwong

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I kinda suspected it might have been -stagnet- buildup due to my grate hood washing....but figuered by the next day with the daily water usage, it would have keep it clean. Was just surprised that when I pulled the line back, it was grimey with muck ! Wasn't expecting that but I guess greasy ID sidewalls and then residual dirt for being a -kitchen sink line- , it will pick up stuff with the greasy sidewalls.

Any tops on BioKleen in the lines without rinsing it out .
The traps are clean. What I do is I pour it into the traps. Come back a 45 min later, and just pour a bit of water so it washes out the trap and into the line. And right before bedtime, one more -water- into the sink traps so I flush the BIO more into the lines. I don't know if the product is just being -wasted- and rinsed right down the drain with some minimal BIO clinging to the sidewalls doing what I want it to do.
 

Jeff H Young

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Im a plumber but not a drain cleaner soThey only get attention when stopped . so far never or maybe one minor a kitchen stoppage. I have a backwater valve on my first floor of 2 story home built in 02. relatively small underground system with a 20 foot run im guessing at kichen branch
 

Chefwong

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Thx. I guess I'll stay on the =reactive= side vs proactive and whenever on the whim....I will just add Bio since it's in my stash.

Ha. I felt so defeated after jetting the vent. Here I was thinking, man, this thing has probably never gotten a cleaning in it's lifetime and now she's all sparkly clean inside....
 

Reach4

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How about pushing a medium drain bladder down the roof vent pipe, past the santee, and then turn on the hose supply. You have to get below the santee, or else you will just be forcing water into the sink. The lower the better. The drain bladder forces water, but it also makes a little jet at the tip.

That is the much-lower cost thing to do some of the things as a jetter.

What if it gets stuck? That would be a risk. I am not a pro.
 

Chefwong

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I only ran the jetter after I ran the hose with no change.
I thought it was a vent issue

And it was because of how I observed the problem

2nd Floor Bathroom Vent roof stack right above
Slow backup instant

Kitchen - same stack - right below bathroom
It drains fine when the faucet is just - running-
It would backup when pouring 3G all at once, or even the simple flood test of just running the faucet on full, eventually it would slowly backup/drain slow

Hence, I was thinking it was -air-. Turned out it was 2 seperate clogs......
It's been eons since I snaked anything.
 

Chefwong

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I -think- moving forward, I'm going to subscribe to the Enzyme mitigation camp for the kitchen line.
As well as not cleaning the kitchen exhaust grates in the dishwasher @ night with the dinner load but make it a point to do on a morning wash, so the line get's flushed out with use.

Root cause - I suspect 3 Gallons of Dishwater running, final drain with nothing flushing the line and potentially -oil- being collected in the waterline in 10 feet of horizontal off the trap from all the years of how the oily water is dumped in @ night and then not flushed out . The only grease my lines see is the hoods being cleaned.

I've been doing a long thought on Enzymes. Granted, it may get -killed- off from a pot of water to blanch, but I think once every week or every other week, is a continued process that will also allow enzymes to -grow- above the water line.

I have zero interest in snaking the kitchen line again. It's messy, with just wiping the cable as you retract it back and whatever bio-film is on it.
(It may very well be operator error on technique)
It may cost me a smide per year, but preventative maintenance I suppose. With that said, 1st clog ever in all my years, but 2 weeks ago, it was my 2nd de-clogging event ever. I don't think I got it cleaned on the 1st pass but just -poked a hole-

Jeff, you mentioned the chain knockers. The flexshaft is interesting to me, as it may be cleaner when working indoors due to a -smoothwall- cable.
 

Reach4

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I have zero interest in snaking the kitchen line again. It's messy, with just wiping the cable as you retract it back and whatever bio-film is on it.
That would be a good thing to hire out to a drain cleaning specialist, if you see the need in the future. Bigger equipment. Practiced technique including having the touch that lets the person read the pipes based on vibrations etc coming back.
 

Sylvan

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About 40% of my company is sewer and drain cleaning

Depending on the account such as nursing home kitchen lines we water jet them twice a year. Most residential accounts once a year water jetting outside leader lines, area drains and then snake the main sewer after water Jetting

Some larger building 27 stories or more twice a year water Jetting the kitchen mains

sylvan-snaking-01.jpg
 
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Sylvan

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By the way I never snake a kitchen line or a floor drain located in a kitchen or use any chemicals

Grease , soil SOFT Stoppages water Jetting , Roots ,rags etc. HARD stoppages snaking
 

Jeff H Young

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By the way I never snake a kitchen line or a floor drain located in a kitchen or use any chemicals

Grease , soil SOFT Stoppages water Jetting , Roots ,rags etc. HARD stoppages snaking

thanks for insight Sylvan, should help OP and us as well. I do a small amount of drain cleaning and not that comfortable with it , but I do go outside my comfort zone here and there.
I haven't used enzymes or acid nope
 

Reach4

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I wonder if lye (crystal Drano is lye + aluminum chips plus two more things https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drano) could still be appropriate for grease, because grease+lye turns to soap. You sure would not want to work on that a short while afterwards. It is my impression that lye (a strong alkali, which is the opposite of acid) is not hard on steel, iron, or plastic pipes.

Lye would react with zinc, and some slip-joint drain nuts are zinc. I don't know that the nuts contact the inside, and may just press the gasket.
 

Chefwong

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Sylvan - Do you have a makeshift U or double trap you add on when working inside and jetting. - Have jetter on hand --I've been thinking about jetting the dang line but the risk/reward of potential backflow - rather just enzyme it. Taking the low and slow approach Ha.

I'm thinkin - slow clog/buildup and the ID of the pipe wall to the clog over time, behind the pipe and now using the enzyme to clean it. I know the Jetter will do the job better and quicker. ++ I did say Better.

I do have a 5/8 line I was going to re-snake it. It's flowing well now. By the time I setup for the 5/8, it's just the same time to jet it...with some watery risks involved.

My only experience with the jetter is with leader lines and even when pulling back, I keep the jetter on thinking it's just scouring as well. I think I back off enough and sometimes, it's makes a slight mess as I pull back to close to the entrance. I get smarter as I use it. I now have it taped/marked on the line 3 feet from the tip
 
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Jeff H Young

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Ill tell you and hope sylvan comes back for comment It takes a little prep but I would have like you said makeshift hook up of plastic fittings angling up shop vac etc on hand and another guy with me. you gotta be able to shut it off fast
 

Sylvan

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"I do have a 5/8 line I was going to re-snake it. It's flowing well now. By the time I setup for the 5/8, it's just the same time to jet it...with some watery risks involved."

No I do not make a make shift U trap BUT I do use a wet dry 6 HP sold by Sears for $99 and an electric jetter usually have 2 GPM max flow rate normally 1.5 GPM so a decent wet dry will suck the back flow as soon as it starts


Easy to clear as I was a stationary engineer before being a master plumber . For 3/4" copper condensate drain that were full of muck I used a Ram Jet . Use very little pressure to start with and work your way up


Look on E BAY



Kinetic Water Ram® - General Pipe Cleaners
https://drainbrain.com › products › kinetic-water-ram


A clogged church kitchen sink prompted a routine call for drain cleaning help. But New York City plumbing pro Sylvan Tieger discovered more serious trouble
 

Chefwong

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I see now. Having a shop vac on hand - would be part of the process when jetting indoors.
Figuered a makeshift U trip would be sufficient enough to minimize any blowback (well at least in my situation, which is a known enviroment)
I suppose if you're doing a customer, you don't really know what may be in the pipe or not.



Post snaking it, I have ran enzyme nightly for a solid week. If it develops a slowdrain again, out comes the big guns
 

Sylvan

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I see now. Having a shop vac on hand - would be part of the process when jetting indoors.
Figuered a makeshift U trip would be sufficient enough to minimize any blowback (well at least in my situation, which is a known enviroment)
I suppose if you're doing a customer, you don't really know what may be in the pipe or not.



Post snaking it, I have ran enzyme nightly for a solid week. If it develops a slowdrain again, out comes the big guns


Wow what a waste of time and money figuring chemicals /enzyme would work
 
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