Avoid Harmful Chemical Drain Cleaners and Clear Your Drain
If your drain is slow or completely clogged, there are two overall solutions at your disposal: use a chemical drain cleaner or physical drain cleaning tools. Petersen Products offers a variety of drain flushers to clear household, business, industrial and municipal drains. They use water pressure to create a powerful jet action and high flow rate to clear debris and buildup from household sinks, plumbing pipes, pool skimmer lines, sewer mains and more.
The question is, how does a drain flusher match up again a chemical drain cleaner? In this article, we’ll look at some reasons why you should avoid chemicals when possible and use physical drain cleaning tools instead.
Chemicals can be dangerous
Chemical drain cleaners often contain potassium hydroxide to transform grease into soft soap, and thioglycolic acid to dissolve hair. Other common ingredients include sodium hydroxide, lye, or sulfuric acid. Direct contact with these chemicals, as well as inhaling their fumes, can lead to serious skin burns, eye burns, and lung injuries. It’s crucial that they are only used in well ventilated areas with the proper safety equipment.
These cleaners can damage pipes and septic systems
Septic systems rely on natural, “good” bacteria to break down the waste that they collect. Using a chemical drain cleaner can kill these bacteria helpers, hindering the proper function of the system and potentially leading to complete failure. Plus, these types of cleaners generate heat to break down and clear clogs. This heat can soften PVC piping and corrode older metal pipes.
Chemical cleaners don’t work for all clogs
Chemical drain cleaners can’t always handle the most stubborn clogs. You may end up using a lot of expensive products, only to have to resort to a physical drain flusher in the end anyway. Plus, letting chemicals sit in pipes waiting for a tough clog to dissolve increases the chance of problems with your plumbing and septic systems.
Potential harm to the environment
If chemical drain cleaners end up in the water supply, they can be very harmful to aquatic life. Plus, the bottles they come in are likely to find themselves in a landfill. A drain flusher, on the other hand, does not release harmful substances into the environment and does not contribute any waste to landfills.
Choose a Petersen® drain flusher
The Petersen® drain flushers are one of the easiest, most efficient methods for clearing clogs and blockages. It avoids the dangers or hazards of chemical drain cleaners while quickly clearing whatever is blocking the pipe.
Connected to a ¾” garden hose, the Dr. Fixit® and DrainJet® drain flushers use city water pressure to create a powerful jet action with high flow rate to move any clogs through the pipe. If you have grease build up, then hot water is especially effective. Your pipes will never flow better!
Click here to see how our DrainJet® drain flusher works.
