How to unclog a drain (best kept secret)

Our house was built in 1966...and with that in mind, we know our plumbing is not the best.

On occasion we get a clogged drain. 

Most of the times we can get the drain unclogged with plunger, baking soda+vinegar, liquid plumber chemicals as a last resort.

On more than one occasion we had to call the plumber to do their magic.

So what's their secret?

Back in March our faithful plumbers came out to fix a few things that needed some attention.

One of them was working on the kitchen sink, and you know that it was a nasty job.

Corroded pipes and clogged up drain. 

A mess for sure.

This older gentleman told me he
only used Dawn dish soap liquid. The blue kind.

***Keep in mind I am no way getting paid to say this, although it would be nice if they did :)***

He said that it is the only one that will cut grease.

Ever seen the pictures of those birds covered in grease after an oil spill?

No detergent other than Dawn would clean the grease and be gentle on their feathers.

So did I buy Dawn detergent after this conversation?

No, I did not.

Fast forward last week.

Our shower in our master bath was clogged up...bad.

No plunger, no baking soda+vinegar, no chemicals would do anything.

The smell was bad, I called the plumber who told me to call some other people who specialize in drain cleaning.

The guy came over with a "snake" and...

you guessed it, 

a giant bottle of Dawn.

I am a visual learner, so I always like to "look over the shoulder" when any kind of professional does their work.

What I noticed is that the snake came back with a very small amount of hair...I believe that was not enough to clog up a shower drain THAT bad.

***keep in mind that our lower level bathroom ties in with the main pipe that comes from the upstairs kitchen, so grease was the culprit of the clog, not hair. If your problem is hair clog, buying a snake would be your first step***

Then he poured some Dawn in the drain and ran hot water.

That was it.

In less than 5 minutes, from the time he walked inside the house to the time he left,

we were clog free.

$105 later to have him do that.

I immediately got on Amazon, 

purchased a snake for $25,
(if your clog is in a bathroom, chances are there will be some hair in the drain) 

then went to the grocery store and bought this!

$8 for a "refill" bottle (=6 bottles), 
which is concentrate, so you add 2/3 of water to 1/3 of detergent.

And this is what I have been using in my kitchen since then.

The drain cleaner guy never said a word about the Dawn detergent,

but the secret is out.

I have seen it with my own eyes.

Do yourself a favor and use this detergent.

It will save you some extra cash for sure.

For me, lesson learned.

ps. for slow/clogged drains, pour 1/2 cup of dawn in there, then bring water to boil on a stove. When ready, slowly pour the water down the drain. 

***our bathroom is right under our kitchen, meaning that if there is a slow drain/grease situation up there, it will eventually move down to the drain and hit the point where our shower drain connects to the drain pipe.
Usually a slow/clogged bathroom drain is due to hair, but in our case it was a grease problem due to our upstairs kitchen. Hence Dawn to the rescue. For a clogged hair situation, try first a plumber snake***

Stay Frugal,

Daniela