You’re washing your dishes, and you notice that, again, the sink’s taking forever to drain. It’s clogged. Even worse, the water’s backing up, resulting in disgusting liquid being formed in front of your eyes.
Don’t worry. We’ll show you the best, most effective and safest ways to clear a slow draining kitchen sink. One of these methods might solve your issue with ease and quickly get things flowing again as they should.
Why’s your kitchen sink so clogged?
Here are some of the things that commonly cause pipes that are connected to a kitchen sink to clog:
- soap scum
- grease and oil
- food, such as meat, pasta, eggshells and coffee grounds
These are less common causes of a blocked kitchen sink:
- hair
- dirt and sand
- paper
Potential Fixes
Any of these potential fixes may solve your slow-draining-kitchen-sink problem.
Use Boiling Water
Sometimes, a simple solution is the most effective, and boiling water may be all that you need to fix your sink. That’s partially because it’s great for breaking up grease, greasy foods and soap scum that may have hardened in your pipes and are now blocking water and everything else from getting through.
Boil around half a gallon of water and pour it into your drain. Consider doing this a few times. Afterwards, turn on your tap water and see if this solved your problem or if your kitchen sink’s still not draining well.
But before you do any of that, take note of your type of pipes as PVC (polyvinyl chloride) ones may not be strong enough to handle that amount of boiling water without being damaged.
Send Baking Soda and Vinegar Down Your Drain
There’s another pour-down-the-drain option that you can try: baking soda and vinegar.
Pour a cup or so of baking soda and around the same amount of vinegar down your drain, and wait about 15 minutes, noting that bubbles may form as a result of this chemical combination. Once that time’s elapsed, run hot water into your sink to test things.
Consider repeating the boiling-water-down-the-drain method after doing this.
Utilize Water and Salt
Sending a water-salt mixture in your drain may be enough to break up your blockage.
Check Your Garbage Disposal
If you have a garbage disposal, that might actually be the culprit as opposed to something deeper in your drainage system. In fact, simply turning it on may fix your issue.
If yours won’t turn on and you have a reset switch associated with it, press that to reboot it, and then turn it on. If pressing that doesn’t do anything or there is no reset button, check your garbage disposal’s electrical connection. Potentially, unplugging it and plugging it back in or resetting your circuit breaker will get it working again. So might simply waiting several minutes as doing that may result in it resetting itself in the meantime.
If you hear a humming sound, your garbage disposal may be jammed. Check around the blades for that with the assistance of a wrench or other tool. (Never put your hands in your garbage disposal, even when the power’s off.) If you do successfully unclog something, turn its power back on and test it and how well your sink’s draining.
Use a Plunger
You could use a plunger to try to clear your drain of whatever’s blocking it. It’s best to utilize a flat-bottomed one, otherwise known as a cup plunger, for this purpose.
First, fill the sink with hot water until at least an inch of it is in it. Then pump the plunger several times before removing it and seeing if it solved your issue. If not, repeat this process a few more times before moving on to another method.
Try a Zip-It Tool
A zip-it tool could be all that you need to clear out this debris and get your drain flowing normally again. To use it, insert the tool into the drain and if it meets resistance, attempt to remove whatever’s causing that.
Use a Plumber’s Snake
Another option is using a plumber’s snake, which can reach blockages much deeper into your drainage system than zip-it tools can. Note that electricity-powered snakes will be even more effective at doing this.
If you don’t have access to an auger, you can create a type of one yourself by unwinding a wire coat hanger and putting that down your drain, attempting to find and dislodge any blockages while doing so.
Clean Your P-Trap
Underneath your sink is most likely a pipe curvature called a P-trap. Oftentimes, food and other items get trapped here. If the other fixing methods didn’t unclog your kitchen sink, getting your hands dirty and cleaning out your p-trap directly may be the best move.
Before you remove anything, make sure to have a bucket there to catch water and anything else that will come out of the P-trap once you start loosening it. Then unscrew its connectors, remove the P-trap and dispose of what you find.
After you have done this and reconnected it, run water in your sink, not only to see if it’s now draining properly but also to ensure that you reassembled the P-trap well and that it’s not leaking.
Note that when you have your P-trap disassembled, you could use a zip-it tool or plumber’s snake from this entry point.
Consult a Professional
At any point, you can always call our professionals at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing to fix your slow draining kitchen sink. We serve households and businesses in Daytona Beach, FL, and throughout the surrounding area and will be glad to use our expertise to get your sink flowing like it should be. And don’t worry if we’ll be on time for our appointment as if there’s any delay, it’s YOU we pay.
