Cleaning a Clogged Kitchen Sink

Kitchen drains often get clogged, leaving you with a drain that drains very slowly or not at all in some cases. This leads to stagnant water that is not only unattractive but also unsafe, as it can sometimes cause odor and bacteria to grow and spread. You can do several things to clean the kitchen drain.

Causes of clogged kitchen drains

Washing pieces of food of dishes by the drain is the main culprit of a clogged kitchen drain. If you do not have a garbage disposal, the food that gets rinsed down often ends up sitting in one of the curves in the pipe. This leads to mold growth along with bacterial growth in the drain. At this point an unpleasant odor will develop and emit out through the drain opening of your kitchen sink.

Summing up

A plunger works perfectly to break up clogged debris in the kitchen sink. Buy a small plunger from your hardware or home improvement store because this is much more sanitary than using the plunger pump. Place the plunger over the sink hole and plunge the drain as you would your toilet. Flush hot water down the drain to rinse the broken up residue.

Baking soda and vinegar

After using the plunger, pour 1 cup of baking soda into the drain; this deodorizes the sink. Pour 1 cup of vinegar over the baking soda and observe the foaming reaction that will occur. The vinegar disinfects and cleans, and the foam created by the two ingredients cleans the walls of the drain pipes. Let the foam work for an hour or so and then rinse hot water down the drain.

Avoiding a clogged drain

Use a drain plug in the kitchen sink. This sits on the drain and has very small holes that allow the water to pass through, but it picks up any pieces of food. Empty the food collected in the trash daily. Also, remember to clean your dishes and utensils before rinsing them off in the sink if you notice chunks of food. This reduces the amount of food rinsed down your drain.