218 South H Street, Lake Worth Beach, FL 33480
7 AM - 4 PM Monday - Friday Emergency After 4 PM and on Weekends
Baking Soda: Remove as much of the liquid that’s backed up as you can. Pour 1 cup of baking soda into the drain then pour a large pot or kettle of boiling hot water over top. If it empties completely, pour down another kettle to give it another hot flush and then let cool water run from the tap for a couple minutes.
Vinegar: Remove as much liquid as you can. Pour in 1 cup of baking soda, then pour down a cup of household vinegar, plug with the stopper then let sit for half an hour. Unplug and pour a kettle full of hot water on top.
Plunging: Use a small plunger to try forcing things to clear. You’ll need a few inches of liquid in the sink to help make a vacuum seal for the plunger and a few forceful plunges to make this work.
Poking & Taking Apart: Remove the trap or clean-out plug underneath the sink to try clearing the blockage. Use a wire coat hanger to poke down and break apart the mass. You’ll need an empty bucket on hand to catch all the liquid as well as eye goggles firmly in place.
Water Won’t Empty: Chances are if you do a treatment with baking soda and vinegar, have the stopper removed, and leave the backed up mess overnight, you’ll find the liquid should have emptied by the morning. The vinegar and baking soda should have worked some of the buildup free on its way down. Do a hot water flush first thing and if the liquid empties as quickly as it normally would, you should be ok. However, if the liquid empties slowly, you might want to check the trap to make sure there’s no mass blocking it. Flush it with hot water throughout the day. Worst case, give Able Plumbing a call.
Sluggish or Slow: If you notice that things are emptying slower than usual but it’s not completely clogged or backed up yet, use the “flush” method right away to prevent a full blockage. Make sure to finish off with a few more hot water dumps.
