Kitchen Sink Disposal Madness then Happiness
Written: Jul 04 '07 (Updated Jul 05 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: DMG did the job on non-fibrous food clogs like spaghetti and Ball Park Franks.
Cons: Toxic, so be very careful
The Bottom Line: The consequences of it not working is scary, but it did work on my pasta and hot dog standing water clog so all is well.
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| sydneybird11's Full Review: Drano Max Gel Clog Remover |
My home was built in 2002 and I didn't think I was going to have a drain clog problem for a very long time. Wrong I was for the kitchen at least, even with a high quality garbage disposal. I think the problem lies in the fact that the kitchen drain pipe has about a 30 foot horizontal run from the main waste stack, which is a long way for water to push garbage disposal waste along. And the problem is exasperated by the amount of water coming from the low-flow faucet.
At the 4.5 year point the kitchen sink clogged up after disposing a couple of loaves of stale bread. I used plenty of water and didn't overload the disposal, or so I thought. Ground up bread; how bad could that be? Using a 25 foot hand snake through the pipe after removing the P-trap didn't open the clog, even though I did pull out a plug of bread crumbs at about the 10 foot point.
After a $175 Rotor-Rooter service call to snake out the line, I though I would be worry free again for a long time. The RR guy said that bread, pasta and rice are all bad for the drain even with a garbage disposal. Well, three months later I slowly disposed some left over spaghetti and old hot dogs and low and behold, clogged again. I really didn't want to call RR again because they would probably say it was my fault and charge me another $175 or more, probably saying that they would have to use an extension on the snake at an up charge.
Off to Home Depot for a drain cleaner product. I was thinking enzymes since the food just needed to be digested and broken down. But this clog resulted in standing water and besides, I had heard that enzymes do not work that effectively. On the wall chart at HD, Drano Max Gel was okay to use in the disposal and for standing water. My problem was not in the disposal, or even in the trap, but down further, probably 10 feet from the sink based on hitting the bread clog last time. I really didn't want to remove the trap and use the snake again since it was not really that effective, the water was dirty, and it is hard on my back working under the sink.
I bought the gallon jug of DMG and hoped for the best. I was scared that if it did not work I would have a toxic mess in my sink and the plumber would either not touch it or charge even more for a hazardous environment. Read the bottle regarding toxicity, but you can imagine the combination of lye and chlorine (the ingredients) would not be good to have on your skin.
The DMG was not as thick as described by other reviewers. Liquid hand soap is thicker. Maybe the formula has changed. I poured a quarter of the gallon slowly through the standing water into the disposal. I did flick the disposal on and off to try to force the DMG past the trap. This is quite dangerous as when the disposal is turned off, the water comes rushing back to the sink and fountains up. If there is not enough water in the sink, the disposal will splash the chemicals everywhere, including you. So, my on-off was for less than a second and water always covered the disposal opening so there was no splashing.
The DMG dissolved all of the food particles in the standing water and turned it from brown to yellow. A chemical smell became evident so I opened the windows. The bottle says to wait 30 minutes and flush with hot water. The drain did not clear, so I skipped the adding more water part. I added another quarter gallon after 30 minutes and flicked the disposal again a couple of times. After an hour and still clogged, I decided to just pour the rest of the gallon jug into the disposal, flick a few times, and let it sit overnight.
In the morning, the standing water had gone down but rinsing out the sink resulted in water backup. But at least it was slowly draining instead of not draining at all. I rinsed the sink out repeatedly and let it drain to clear it of DMG. Then I stoppered the disposal and filled the sink up with the hottest tap water. Then I unstoppered the disposal, turned the disposal on, and that surge of water apparently forced the clog out of the pipe. I did the surge a couple of more times just to be sure.
The other reviews and the bottle go into great detail of the safety issues and proper use of the product, so see those for further details.
In summary, DMG did seem to do the job on non-fibrous food clogs like spaghetti and Ball Park Franks. I had to use a gallon of the stuff, but $12 is cheaper than RR. Very happy indeed. I think that I'm going to do maintenance cleanings every few months now.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sydneybird11
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Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 2 members
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