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Sulfuric acid drain opener.


PhilosipherStoned

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Am I wrong to be as afraid of this shit as I am? I mean chemical ppe dawned I just poured what I think is 3/4 cup down my drain with a funnel with the bottom coated in some protective jelly. I didn't even know a solution as potent as this shit could just be bought at a store, and I mean the directions....It says let stand 5 minutes and flush with water. Still getting my nerves up to mix an acid with a base. :|

MY main drain is metal pretty sure...Not going to be using this on the reg. I prolly already fucked up didn't I?  I got my baking soda ready.

Fuck this shit though should've just bought a snake...

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So I didn't blow myself up or burn my face off, Already getting some drips under the sink, and I'm wondering if this shit ate a hole in a seal or pipe and didn't even unclog my slow drain. :|

Acid should be diluted/ nuetralized with all the baking soda and water I've added now though.. 

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5 hours ago, PhilosipherStoned said:

So I didn't blow myself up or burn my face off, Already getting some drips under the sink, and I'm wondering if this shit ate a hole in a seal or pipe and didn't even unclog my slow drain. :|

Acid should be diluted/ nuetralized with all the baking soda and water I've added now though.. 

It's pretty harsh stuff. We never use it as a rule. Some say it's a last resort but if things have gotten bad enough for you to use that then it's time to start replacing things. BTW, it reacts with almost everything in an older plumbing system. It can start fires and explode.

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"Billy was a chemist's son, alas he is no more...for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4."  (Joke tombstone at the long gone Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Chicago)

If the standing water has gone down, either heat up a tea kettle full of water or nuke some (wear gloves) and pour it down the drain.  I've even unstuck drains using Dawn Dish soap & hot water.  It just depends on what kind of sludge you've got down there.

I tried a number of things on the upstairs sink and only Insta-Flo worked, though it took a couple doses (make sure the Sulfuric Acid is gone).  Again, you'll need hot water with the stuff.  image.png.f9dd6f2285f3f54680ea90abe0c7defc.png

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31 minutes ago, tsar4 said:

"Billy was a chemist's son, alas he is no more...for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4."  (Joke tombstone at the long gone Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Chicago)

If the standing water has gone down, either heat up a tea kettle full of water or nuke some (wear gloves) and pour it down the drain.  I've even unstuck drains using Dawn Dish soap & hot water.  It just depends on what kind of sludge you've got down there.

I tried a number of things on the upstairs sink and only Insta-Flo worked, though it took a couple doses (make sure the Sulfuric Acid is gone).  Again, you'll need hot water with the stuff.  image.png.f9dd6f2285f3f54680ea90abe0c7defc.png

I bought this. image.png.b08de6ab707765ac8da955f77addaeeb.png

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7 minutes ago, PhilosipherStoned said:

I bought this. image.png.b08de6ab707765ac8da955f77addaeeb.png

My house is closing in on 100 years old & a lot of the pipes are still original, I tend to stay away from extremely caustic stuff since I don't know how long it would have to sit in the pipe to work.

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I use sulphuric acid in the urinal drain at the bar, only as a last resort. People push their chew and straws thru the grate, and wash all other manner of nasty dude bits down there. Eventually it builds up and clogs, and I have to pull out the tools and grind the buildup out. If I can't get the snake to punch thru, that's when it's time for the acid bath. I figure those pvc pipes have a few more baths in them before it's time to replace the lot. 

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1 hour ago, wacky1980 said:

I use sulphuric acid in the urinal drain at the bar, only as a last resort. People push their chew and straws thru the grate, and wash all other manner of nasty dude bits down there. Eventually it builds up and clogs, and I have to pull out the tools and grind the buildup out. If I can't get the snake to punch thru, that's when it's time for the acid bath. I figure those pvc pipes have a few more baths in them before it's time to replace the lot. 

It will eat the glaze out of the bowl and trap.

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1 hour ago, wacky1980 said:

I use sulphuric acid in the urinal drain at the bar, only as a last resort. People push their chew and straws thru the grate, and wash all other manner of nasty dude bits down there. Eventually it builds up and clogs, and I have to pull out the tools and grind the buildup out. If I can't get the snake to punch thru, that's when it's time for the acid bath. I figure those pvc pipes have a few more baths in them before it's time to replace the lot. 

Yeah I think I'm going to buy a snake today. I watched a plumber snake my drain the last time this happened and drainos finest, hot water, all that shit didn't work.. HE was in my house 10 or 15 minutes with the snake, and got it all going good. I asked for how much I owed..."Don't worry we'll bill you"...

I got a bill that was around $200 for that dude being in my house 15 minutes snaking the drain. 🙃

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Keep telling my roomate who pays to stay in one of my rooms and use a back area for band practice to WATCH WHAT GOES DOWN THE DRAINS. Hard to say it's even his fault though this house was built in like 59-69 if memory serves me, and I bought it from a really old lady with a lot of rental properties. This was rented out ir sold to a lot of people that got kicked out or foreclosed on before I got it..  There's a lot of run down looking properties in this town, and his one seemed pretty good comparibly.

An inspector said there were ominous signs though like that old lady that owned it replaced a circuit breaker panel that made it look newer than it actually was because she just had them replace the panel or something. 🤣🙃

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49 minutes ago, crackymckrackin said:

It will eat the glaze out of the bowl and trap.

Yeah, that's why it only has a couple rounds of that left. I'm already planning a full remodel once I have ADA compliance for building egress finished later this summer. None of the bar is compliant, and so I can't do much of anything in the way of improvements until I can do all of the egress stuff as well.

The men's room is basically just a closet with a trough, from like 1970. The plumbing? Same age, probably. No traps on floor drains. Neighboring properties tied in. It's like a plumber's wet dream / nightmare. 

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@wacky1980 I have a confession to make I've never actually used a drain snake before. I'm trying to figure out the best thing for the job here a snake, an augur.. If a plumber is going to charge me over a hundred to fix shit though I feel like I might as well invest in something better than chemicals at least.. See the plumber that came the first time may have used whatever this guy machined into the drain..Which probably is expensive as fuck.

*sigh*

He took the P Trap  and all the PVC parts off and drained the backed up standing water filled with mixed with caustic chemicals because yes...

Spoiler

My smart ass did decide to pour chlorene bleach down the drain, and it probably mixed with draino to create fucking chlorene gas and all sorts of nasty dangerous shit..Pobably why Igot billed so much this guy might've got combat pay idk lol. I was prepared to run after that, and had both doors and every window open, and that shit still sucked lol. I MOPPed geared everything once he finally got the clog cleared.

Anyways.. Old Scruffy the plumber sent something through my drain after that while a helper went to the bathroom and shined a light down my bathtub drain. He was like "I see ya boss...meaning he was able to see the front end of that through the bathtub drain. If I had a better understanding of the pipe work that would at least help. I don't have plastic or pvc plumbing all the way through I know that.

It's the old school shit where the PVC p trap is right there under the kitchen sink and it attaches to the metal piece that goes out...that has a name which I forgot, but that gives a pretty clear indicator of how the pipes run to someone with experience right? I try to stay up on this shit, but honestly I'm gonna fuck something up if I do this myself probably... That doesnt mean I'm not still tempted to try though.

Someone help.. 🤣🙃

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the metal piece must connect to the bathtub drain and everything in the house goes out from a drain adjoining those pipes...So I mean....This is a small ass house. I'm worried theres a clog in the main pipe going out then because...This is a small 2 bed house I live on as opposed to the property. Total of 2 sinks (1 Kitchen 1 bathroom) 1 bath tub. I had everything gpoing smoothly in  at least 2/3 no... All drains werent backing up to where water would progressively build at least... 

I'M SCARED OTHER DRAINS ARE BACKING UP NOW.

hmm.. **Squinty eyes**

 

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38 minutes ago, PhilosipherStoned said:

the metal piece must connect to the bathtub drain and everything in the house goes out from a drain adjoining those pipes...So I mean....This is a small ass house. I'm worried theres a clog in the main pipe going out then because...This is a small 2 bed house I live on as opposed to the property. Total of 2 sinks (1 Kitchen 1 bathroom) 1 bath tub. I had everything gpoing smoothly in  at least 2/3 no... All drains werent backing up to where water would progressively build at least... 

I'M SCARED OTHER DRAINS ARE BACKING UP NOW.

hmm.. **Squinty eyes**

 

Your main line is stopped up. Call the plumber or rent a cable machine. The plumber will be cheaper in the long run.

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36 minutes ago, PhilosipherStoned said:

the metal piece must connect to the bathtub drain and everything in the house goes out from a drain adjoining those pipes...So I mean....This is a small ass house. I'm worried theres a clog in the main pipe going out then because...This is a small 2 bed house I live on as opposed to the property. Total of 2 sinks (1 Kitchen 1 bathroom) 1 bath tub. I had everything gpoing smoothly in  at least 2/3 no... All drains werent backing up to where water would progressively build at least... 

I'M SCARED OTHER DRAINS ARE BACKING UP NOW.

hmm.. **Squinty eyes**

 

As I said, my house is nearing 100.  The outflow pipes are smaller than they are in newer houses.  We clogged up starting with the laundry sink.  Then I notice whatever we used water in (kitchen, bathroom, etc), water came up out of the floor drain in the basement.  Had to get RotoRooter to power snake the lines.  The issues turned out to be a root getting into the line from the exterior of the house to the city sewerage, coupled with frickin' Charmin.  Charmin doesn't readily break up in water, we had to switch to Angel Soft.  The Charmin was getting caught in the house's old small pipes and creating papier-mâché like clumps.  

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1 minute ago, crackymckrackin said:

Your main line is stopped up. Call the plumber or rent a cable machine. The plumber will be cheaper in the long run.

 Meh I'm at least going to learn something this time before I call a plumber because of that bill...  Being a Texan that does care for the environment  dont even want to ru the neccessary water to confirm these suspicions, and I havent. Checking the lav drains now I guess.... 

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