Have you ever taken a shower only to find your feet 5 inches in murky water within a few minutes? Hair clogs are one of the most common problems that cause homeowners to call for plumbing services in Huntington Beach and the surrounding areas. During every shower, one or two hairs can sneak past the hair catcher and make themselves at home in the p-trap. Before you know it, you’ll have water gurgling slowly past the clog or your bathtub or sink will stop draining altogether.
The thought of hair clogging up your sink or tub can be enough to make your skin crawl. But before you allow these thoughts to creep into your nightmares, you can take control of the situation by trying a few of our favorite methods for safely cleaning hair from your drains.
How to Clean Hair From Drains: 5 Safe Methods
It’s important to remember that not all methods are safe for removing hair from your drains. While we doubt you’re going to try and blast it out with leftover fireworks from your 4th of July party, some of the products that you can find at your local hardware store can be almost as bad for your pipes and probably won’t even work that well. Here are 5 methods that our Orange County plumbers at Moffett Plumbing & Air recommend for removing hair clogs.
Method #1: Baking Soda and Vinegar
You can free up some minor clogs by using a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. The chemical effect that causes the two substances to fizz and foam when you combine them can also help to break down the clog in your drain. As an added bonus, this method can also help to clean the inside of your pipes of some of the gunk that can cause bad odors in your drains.
You can start by pouring about a cup of baking soda into the drain. Once it’s there, pour the same amount of plain distilled white vinegar into the sink or tub. Let it sit and do its work for several minutes before pouring hot water into the drain.
Method #2: A Sink Plunger
Sometimes the clog is too tough for baking soda and vinegar to do the job alone. If you have tried the above method several times and the clog isn’t budging, you can use a sink plunger to try to force the hair clog out. Usually, once it gets past the p-trap, the hair clog can move much easier through your plumbing system.
You can buy a sink plunger at any home improvement store. You can use it by filling up the sink or tub with water and plunging it several times. If the water drains, the method was successful. If not, you can try again or move on to the next method.
Method #3: Pliers, Tweezers, or a Clothes Hanger
If you can see the hair clog and you don’t want to make a trip to the store, you can use what you have in your home to try and get the clog out. Sometimes the clog is close enough to the opening of the sink or tub for you to be able to use pliers or tweezers. Try to grab the top part of the clog and then see if pulls free. If the clog is a little further down, you can try to use a bent clothes hanger to hook on to the clog.
Method #4: A Plumbing Snake
If you feel up to a trip to the store, you can try purchasing a plumbing snake. There are many different snakes to choose from. They range from small plastic devices with teeth that are no longer than a couple of feet, to electric plumbing augers that do most of the work for you. Even the least expensive models could be enough to help you get rid of your hair clog if it isn’t too deep.
Method #5: Call a Drain Cleaning Professional!
We don’t blame you if all of these methods sound like too much trouble or if you don’t want to get your hands too dirty. The clog you have in your sink or tub may even be too difficult to get out with any of these methods. If the hair clog is too deep in your pipes or if a plunger and an auger aren’t doing the trick, you can call a drain cleaning professional in Anaheim or the surrounding areas. An Orange County plumber has many options at their disposal including professional-grade snakes and hydro jetting technology.
What is Hydro Jetting?
Hydro jetting is a tool that uses water many times more pressurized than that of a pressure cleaner to blast clogs out of your pipes. Hydro jetting is so effective that it doesn’t just remove food and hair clogs from your drains, it also removes any bacteria, algae, grease, and oil that is cleaning to the edge of the pipes. This can be a great option if you are also struggling with smelly drains.
Why We Do NOT Recommend Liquid Drain Cleaning Products
You may be wondering why liquid drain cleaners didn’t make it onto our list of safe methods. After all, they are the most common products that you can find on the shelves of your local stores. The reason we don’t like these products is that they contain harsh chemicals that are much more corrosive than the white vinegar that you have in your kitchen. Using these chemicals to get rid of hair clogs can shorten the lifespan of your pipes. It can even make clogs more likely since corroded pipes are rougher and can snag hair a lot easier.
OC Drain Cleaning Services
No matter how careful you are to not let hair slip down the drain, there is only so much that you can do to prevent it. When your drains get clogged you can try a few DIY methods to get the clog out first. If that doesn’t work, you can always get in touch with a drain cleaning professional to help you out!
At Moffett Plumbing & Air, we are Orange County plumbers that have been offering plumbing services in Yorba Linda, Anaheim, and Huntington Beach since 1969. Call us today for OC drain cleaning services.