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Willow Park & Maple Ridge Shawnessy Woodbine
Drain advice · Calgary and area
Does Drano damage your pipes?
It can. And on a proper blockage it usually doesn’t work anyway. Here’s a plumber’s honest answer, and what to do instead.
The short answer.
Drano will sometimes clear a slow drain that’s just starting to clog. On a drain that’s completely blocked it mostly sits in the pipe, and that’s when it does the damage.
Used now and again on a slow sink, it’s unlikely to hurt anything. Poured down the same drain every few weeks, it’s a problem waiting to happen, and it’s usually hiding a bigger one.
How Drano works.
Drano is a caustic cleaner. The main ingredient is sodium hydroxide, better known as lye, and some versions add bleach or heat up as they react. The idea is that the chemicals and the heat break down hair, grease and soap scum until the drain runs again.
The catch is that it has to reach the clog. In a sink that’s completely stopped, it lands in the standing water, gets diluted, and sits in the trap doing very little to the blockage and a lot to everything around it.
The photo is the inside of a drain pipe after years of grease and sludge. No liquid from a bottle is shifting that.
Can Drano damage your pipes?
Yes, under the right conditions. These are the ones that matter.
Plastic drain pipe
Most Calgary homes have black ABS plastic drain pipe. Heat from a chemical reaction sitting in one spot can soften and distort plastic pipe and its glued joints, especially when the product is left in a blocked drain for a long time.
Older metal pipe
Older homes can still have cast iron, galvanized steel or copper drain lines. Caustic chemicals speed up the corrosion that’s already happening inside, and a pipe that’s already thin doesn’t need the help.
Traps, seals and fixtures
Chemicals left sitting in a trap attack the rubber washers and seals, and can mark the finish on sinks and tubs. That can turn a blocked sink into a leaking one.
Septic systems
If you’re on a septic tank, on an acreage outside the city for example, harsh drain cleaners kill the bacteria the tank relies on to break down waste. Fixing a septic system costs far more than a drain call.
Already poured some in and it’s still blocked?
Tell us before we start. Don’t take the trap apart yourself and don’t pour a different cleaner in on top. A sink full of drain cleaner can burn skin and eyes, and some cleaners give off toxic gas when they’re mixed.
What to do instead.
- Pull the stopper. A slow bathroom sink is very often a clump of hair wrapped around the pop-up stopper, and it comes out in a minute.
- Use a plunger. Still the best first try on a toilet, and it works on sinks and tubs too.
- Try a hand snake. A cheap plastic hair snake from the hardware store clears most bathroom sink and tub clogs.
- Keep grease out of the kitchen sink. Wipe pans with paper towel before you wash them. Grease is behind most of the kitchen drain calls we go to.
- Fit hair catchers in showers and tubs. The cheapest drain cleaning there is.
- Baking soda and vinegar is fine for freshening a slow drain, followed by hot tap water. It won’t shift a real blockage. Enzyme cleaners help keep drains clear over time, but they’re slow and won’t open a drain that’s already stopped.
If none of that works, that’s when to call us. We clear drains with a snake or a hydro jetter, depending on what your drain actually needs.
Same drain keeps blocking?
That’s a sign of something further down the line, like years of grease or tree roots in the sewer line. No bottle fixes that. We’ll find out what’s causing it and fix it properly.