NEVER Pour Anything Into a Slow Bathroom Sink — Lift This First

Slow draining bathroom sink? Before you pour anything down it, lift the stopper out and look at what comes up. Mine took forty-one seconds to empty. One rope of hair off the stopper, and the same cup went down in six. This video shows the whole thing on my own sink, with a timer running so you can compare your number to mine. It is for a slow draining bathroom sink with a removable push stopper, on a sink where no chemical drain cleaner has ever been used. If a chemical has gone down there, stop and follow that bottle's label instead. Nothing in this video applies. 0:00 Stop here if a chemical ever went down 0:46 What you need on the counter 1:47 Step 1: check your stopper opens 2:07 Step 2: one cup, and your before number 2:35 Step 3: lift the stopper and look 3:06 Step 4: wash the stopper in the bowl 3:23 Step 5: one look down the drain 4:10 If the hook stops, leave it there 5:13 Step 6: put it back, press twice 5:36 Step 7: the same cup, your after number 7:50 Next morning: the number that counts 9:51 Once a week, one minute, standing up 10:14 The hair catcher, and when it is wrong 11:43 Why not soap and warm water 12:57 My mother, and three words The steps, in order: 2:07 Pour one cup, start the timer 2:24 Write your before number down 2:35 Lift the stopper: hold the cap, lift gently 2:54 Hair onto the towel, towel over the drain 3:06 Toothbrush around the rubber ring 3:23 Flashlight into the drain, face a forearm above 5:13 Stopper back in: press once, press again 5:36 One cup again, same cup, same pitcher 6:45 Cold tap, low, one minute 7:39 Gloves off, wash at the kitchen sink Why a timer and a notepad? Because a slow draining bathroom sink does not tell you whether it got better; a number does. Write the seconds before, the seconds after, and the seconds the next morning. If the next-morning number creeps back up by more than half, the slow part is deeper than a stopper, and that is a plumber's work, not yours. Two things I never do. I never force a tool into the drain: one hook maker prints five words on the package, "Never force tool into drain." And I never mix anything. One drain-gel maker warns on its own page that mixing it with another cleaner means "hazardous fumes or a violent reaction may result." Never pour boiling water either, and keep your face a forearm above the sink the whole time. Gloves keep the gunk off your hands; they do not protect you from a chemical. This is for a slow draining bathroom sink only, with a push stopper you can lift by hand. Not for a kitchen sink, not for a tub, not for a lift-rod stopper, and not for any sink where a bottle has already gone down. If your slow draining bathroom sink is empty and no chemical has ever gone in, pull the stopper tonight and tell me in the comments, one word: HAIR or CLEAR. #SlowDrainingSink #BathroomSink #CleaningTips #HomeMaintenance #CasaMerce