No one likes a clogged drain. Whether it is your sink, shower, or bathtub, things can get messy quickly. If you find that you are standing in a couple of inches of water every time you take a shower, you might be tempted to run to the corner drug store and grab a bottle of chemical drain cleaner. Experienced Brooklyn plumbing companies know that while this might be okay every once in a while, over time, this stuff can do some serious damage.
Drain cleaners contain caustic materials like lye that burn through whatever is clogging your drain. This can be a great solution sometimes — if your shower drain is a bit slow, hair and soap scum are most likely the issues, and either a simple drain snake or some drain cleaner will clear it right up (buy a hair trap for your drain to prevent the problem in the future).
However, if you find that you have to pour an entire bottle of drain cleaner down the drain every few weeks, it is time to call in a professional. There are a couple of reasons to step away from the drain cleaner after a couple of uses:
All that drain cleaner may damage your pipes. Especially if you have an older plumbing system with metal instead of PVC pipes, as is often the case with Brooklyn plumbing, prolonged exposure to chemical drain cleaners can corrode your pipes over time. This, of course, will lead to a much more expensive and messy problem if one of those pipes develops a leak.
You may not be addressing the underlying problem. If you have a chronically slow drain, it may not just be debris causing the clog. It could be a septic issue or some underlying problem that only a professional can identify. The drain cleaner is just a Band-Aid, and eventually, the real problem will rear its ugly, head.
Are you dealing with a chronically slow drain? Please, step away from the drain cleaner and contact Aladdin Plumbing for help.