Chlorine type of drain openers won't hurt the pvc pipes, but I have seen some of the acid based drain openers heat up and bulge a pvc pipe, but the acid stuff gets really hot.
I agree with you on this. I usually will purchase a gallon of bleach every month, and pour a few cups of bleach down all my drains every few weeks as a way to make the drains smell good and to clean out the accumulation of crud that slows the drains.
I agree with you on this. I usually will purchase a gallon of bleach every month, and pour a few cups of bleach down all my drains every few weeks as a way to make the drains smell good and to clean out the accumulation of crud that slows the drains.
Yeah, be very careful if you have PVC pipes. It won't always unstick a clogged drain (works sometimes), but as long as they are reasonably clean I pour a heaping tablespoon of baking soda down the drain, let it sit 5 min. or so, then pour a half cup of white vinegar down the drain. It bubbles up (expanding a bit, not enough to hurt pipes though), eats away at grime and keeps drains clean and fresh with no damage to the environment or water table. If you are on a septic system, especially an aerated system that will water your yard for you, you don't want bleach in there. Plus the bleach can kill the bacteria that eats the crap (literally) out of your septic tank and keeps it from overflowing if you use lots of it.
Yeah, be very careful if you have PVC pipes. It won't always unstick a clogged drain (works sometimes), but as long as they are reasonably clean I pour a heaping tablespoon of baking soda down the drain, let it sit 5 min. or so, then pour a half cup of white vinegar down the drain. It bubbles up (expanding a bit, not enough to hurt pipes though), eats away at grime and keeps drains clean and fresh with no damage to the environment or water table. If you are on a septic system, especially an aerated system that will water your yard for you, you don't want bleach in there. Plus the bleach can kill the bacteria that eats the crap (literally) out of your septic tank and keeps it from overflowing if you use lots of it.
Nope...the bleach is only 12% chlorine at best, it will be used up long before it will kill off your septic tank.
I work with Cl2 every day and bacteria, yes chlorine will destroy at the DNA level, but at 12% you will not do any harm to your septic tank unless you use tens of gallons.
I have some 70% stuff that will make you cry and not breathe, that stuff will do some damage, and the gas will kill you....
I have a drain that is constantly getting clogged up deep in the pipe.
Is there some monthly chemical or organic compound I can put in my pipes to eat the grease and other items clogging it?
Depending on what "other items" are you may be better off snaking it. A snake costs $15 or $20 last I checked, get the the spiral kind not the flat ribbon kind. Takes a lot of elbow grease, but enough persistence and it'll usually find its way around the tight curves. Just a few inches of free cable is all you want so that it's stiff enough to be pushing in while twisting, then when it finally goes inch the handle back another few inches and repeat. Once it's all the way in there I like to work it around a bit while flushing water through, hot preferably.
Don't remember where I first read this, but they suggested once a month or so filling all the sinks and tubs in the house to the max and having a friend or two help pull all the plugs and flush all the toilets at the same time. The weight of that much water helps pull everything through the drain pipes and keeps it from building up. I've tried it and watched my sink drain exponentially faster when a lot of other drains are going too, so it's got to have some merit to it.
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