Foul-smelling black sludge is a common cause of clogs in bathroom drains. The black sludge is a biofilm that's produced by bacteria. Organic material that enters your bathroom drains like hair, dead skin cells, and oil provide a food source for bacteria in your drains, and they'll produce a biofilm as they eat it. The biofilm is made up of the waste they produce from digesting food along with dead bacteria. Thankfully, these types of clogs are usually easy to remove. To learn how to unclog a bathroom drain that's clogged with black sludge, read on.
Use Enzymatic Drain Cleaner
The best way to remove black sludge from bathroom drains is to use an enzymatic drain cleaner. These drain cleaners contain enzymes instead of the caustic lye found in most drain cleaners, making them safer to use in your home's plumbing. The enzymes break down organic materials in your drain, including the organic materials found in biofilm.
You can find enzymatic drain cleaners at most home improvement stores. Simply purchase some and pour it down the drain that's clogged with black sludge.
Pour Warm Water Down the Drain
Pouring warm water down your clogged drain will help your enzymatic drain cleaner work better. It will partially break up the biofilm, allowing the enzymes in the cleaner to come into contact with more of it. Additionally, increasing the temperature of the enzymatic drain cleaner will speed up how quickly the enzymes break down organic material. The water you pour down the drain should be warm, not boiling. Boiling water can harm your home's plumbing, and it can also destroy the enzymes in the drain cleaner.
Remove Hair Clogs With a Drain Snake
When biofilm starts to accumulate in a bathroom drain, it usually leads to hair clogging the drain as well. Hair sticks to the biofilm as it's washed down the drain. The easiest way to remove hair clogs is to use a small drain snake with a barbed end. Insert the drain snake into your bathroom drain and twirl it around. The barbed end of the snake will grab onto all of the hairs in the drain. Pull the drain snake out of your drain to remove the hair clog.
Overall, the best way to remove black sludge from a bathroom drain is to use an enzymatic drain cleaner. It breaks down the biofilm, allowing water to carry it away. You'll also need to use a barbed drain snake to remove any stubborn hair clogs that were trapped by the biofilm.
If your bathroom drain is still clogged or running slowly, you should call a drain cleaning service. It's likely that the clog is deeper in the pipe, and may even be in your home's sewer lines. A drain cleaning service can inspect the drain to find the source of the clog, then remove it using a long pipe snake to fix your clogged bathroom drain.
For more info about drain cleaning, contact a local company.
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