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3 Tips to Help You Resolve Slow-Moving Drains

3 January 2018

Troy Medina

Sluggish drains can be very frustrating when you're standing in shin-high scummy water and waiting long minutes for the kitchen sink to drain after washing dishes. What's more, they can quickly advance from a mere inconvenience to full-blown clogged drains which are a plumbing emergency. If you've been trying all kinds of things and your drains still empty sluggishly, this article gives some tips you can apply to solve this problem for good.

Why drains move slowly

Understanding the reason behind a problem is pivotal to finding a permanent solution. Decreased flow speeds in drains often result from:

• Pipe bellies – these are sags in sewer lines, which cause a problem with the way the pipe drains. Usually, sewer pipes are installed at an angle to enable flow by gravity, but such bellies interfere with this flow

• Narrow pipes – over time, sediments, grease, dirt and scum team up to line pipes, making them narrower and narrower. In places with hard water, calcification can occur along the interior of the pipe, reducing space for water-flow

• Foreign particles – tree roots and soil can get into sewer lines at connection points, and can eventually clog the pipes

How to resolve sluggish drains

1. Descale your pipes

Descaling removes sediments and lime-scale permanently lining pipes, and it works on any other hard blockages along the drain lines. Home-use chemical drainers are designed to resolve clogs found close to the draining point, but descaling is effective for entire sewer lines without harming the pipes like chemical cleaners. Descaling involves injection of high-pressure hot water into the drains, after which a plumber inspects with a video camera to ensure sediments are diffused.

2. Flush your hot water tank

Water heaters are a huge contributor to scale buildup in water. Heating changes certain minerals in water to more powdery or sticky forms, and this forms the scale that slowly builds up along the pipes' walls and in plumbing fixtures. You can resolve this in two ways:

• Schedule annual hot water system maintenance that must include flushing the system to remove sediments and scale. Areas with harder water should flush bi-annually or even more often

• Install a water softener, which treats/dissolves sediments in water into smaller, soluble compounds that won't block the pipes. This is especially ideal in areas with high mineral content in the water supply.

3. Change your habits

Finally, be careful about pouring dirt, grease, food remains and other foreign materials into your drains. It is these that will combine over time to create a hard clog that will be hard to remove. Install drain sieves on all drains to keep out larger particles from passing through. You can also periodically pour baking soda and then vinegar followed by boiling water down the drain to wash out grease and other drain-blockers, especially for your kitchen sink.

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