Got a tip from a plumber at a job site in Denver that actually worked

I was watching this old school plumber unclog a drain with a shop vac and dish soap instead of a snake, and he said it cuts the time in half for grease clogs. Tried it on a kitchen sink last week and it worked way better than I expected. Has anyone else used a shop vac for drains or am I late to the party?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaela161mo ago

Wait, did the plumber say to use cold or hot water with the soap? I've got a buddy who tried this last month in his rental and he just dumped the dish soap straight down with hot water running... ended up with suds everywhere in the kitchen sink for like 20 minutes. He said the shop vac sucked up most of it but the floor got slippery and his wife was not happy at all. He figured next time he'd mix the soap with a little water first, or maybe use less soap because that stuff really expands when it hits hot water. He's the type who just wings it though, no shame in admitting he messed it up.

blair_green861d ago

That dish soap foaming up thing is a good point. You gotta use cold water with the soap, not hot, because hot water makes the soap suds up way too much and you'll have a mess. The plumber told me to squirt the soap straight down the drain, run cold water for like 30 seconds to push it into the clog, then hit it with the shop vac on wet mode. If you use hot water first, you're basically making shampoo bubbles in your pipes and the vac will struggle to pull it all out.

the_jana1mo ago

Shop vac and dish soap... that's a new one on me. Did the plumber say anything about using cold water vs hot with that setup? I've always heard hot water helps break up grease but then again suds and heat might make it worse. Curious if you just dumped the soap straight down the drain or mixed it up first.