How To Speed Up Your Drain and Clear Clogs

1. Bust Out the Plunger

This should always be step number one when trying to clear clogs in the drain, because it is really the sole purpose of a plunger. I recommend a cup plunger to try and clear whatever is blocking the drain. 

You’ll have to remove any excess water in the sink, as well as the drain cover to expose the drain. Place the plunger over the drain and make sure it’s completely covered. 

Now you may begin pumping the plunger up and down for roughly 30 seconds to a minute. Run water, allow it to drain, and repeat this process up to three times. If the water isn’t draining correctly after, we’ll have to turn to a different method…

2. Good Ol’ Vinegar and Baking Soda

What can’t this combo do? It takes care of everything from laundry stains to whatever else. And it can even be a homemade drain cleaner. How it works is simple.

Pour about ⅓ cup to a cup of dry baking soda down, trying to get it as far down as possible. Once that’s done, pour an equal amount of vinegar down the drain. It should start fizzing immediately, and you should let that sit for about two minutes. 

Then pour hot — not boiling — water down the drain to clear it out. If it’s particularly tough, you can repeat this process up to three times. But be sure to clear it out with hot water between every attempt.

3. The Gross Option: Pull Out the Hair

Hair. The most common enemy of bathroom sinks. Also, one of the grossest because there’s only one surefire way to clean it yourself: pull the hair out by hand.

One classic method is to bend a wire hanger into a hook, reaching it into the drain and pulling out as much hair with said hook as possible. There are some risks to this, however, other than being down a hanger. If you’re too rough with the hanger down in the drain, you could scratch and dent the interior of the pipe. 

Luckily, there are products you can buy that are designed for this purpose so you don’t have to lose that precious hanger.

4. Clean the P-Trap

First things first, what is the “P-trap”? It’s the bending pipe located beneath every sink. The bend is present because it holds a small amount of water at all times that helps to prevent sewer gasses from rising up through the pipes and into your home.

Sometimes, however, more than just water gets caught in there… Various debris — including hair — can create a quite difficult clog. The best solution to this is to remove the trap and clear it of any debris in there. The steps are pretty simple: 

• Turn the water to your sink off.
• Put some gloves on.
• Place a bucket beneath the P-trap
• Remove the slip nuts that secure it to the sink and the wall
• Clean out the trap once you’ve removed it… heads up, it could be nasty!

5. Hot Water!

It goes without saying that this may not be the most reliable solution, but if you need a quick fix, it doesn’t get much quicker. Once you’ve boiled a pot of water, simply begin pouring it down the drain. The hot water may help to break up the greasy build-up. 

To make this more effective, pour the water down in stages. After every stage, add about a ⅓ cup of dish detergent. Ideally, you could use the water to break up the build enough to plunge it out.

These tips should get you out of a quick jam, but don’t forget about that clog once it’s taken care of. There could still be an underlying problem laying in wait to lead to another issue down the road. Make sure to call a licensed plumber to get rid of the problem at its source.