It looks so easy on the television commercials: just pour the drain cleaner into your clogged drain, wait a little bit, and poof! The drain is clear!

If only it were this easy.

Plumbing is complicated, and removing a really stubborn clog takes a lot more than just pouring some chemicals down your drain. If you catch a drain problem early, such as a slow drain, you may be able to use a home remedy like white vinegar and baking soda to break up the clog. At best, this type of remedy will clear the problem, and at worst, you’ve used a cup of white vinegar and baking soda that may have been put to better use elsewhere. This is not the case with chemical drain cleaners, and why it may be time to call your Lifeline Plumbing expert and schedule drain cleaning services for your Elgin home.

Problems with OTC Drain Cleaners

We mentioned the word “chemicals” up above and for good reason: OTC drain cleaners are full of them. And the chemicals in the drain cleaner can be highly caustic to both you and your plumbing. In fact, many OTC drain cleaners can cause damage to your plumbing but may not actually help with the clog.

Another problem with chemical drain cleaners is that they cling. Often they are in a gel form so that they stick to your pipes. This means it could take weeks to flush these chemicals from your plumbing, and while they cling, they can continue to burn the inside of your piping.

Benefits of Drain Cleaning

When you hire a professional to perform drain cleaning in your home, you can gain some great benefits:

• Total removal of clogs – if you’ve been struggling with a re-occurring clog, you may not have removed it all to begin with. During a drain cleaning, your plumber will have the tools to reach deep into the system and remove all the build-up causing the clog.
• Helps prevent future repairs – drain cleaning thoroughly removes build-up from things like soap scum and FOG (fats, oil, grease), preventing future clogs from developing.

The next time you have a stubborn clog, don’t try an over the counter drain cleaner; instead, call the experts at Lifeline Plumbing and schedule a drain cleaning appointment for your Elgin home.