Your sink doesn’t flow as good as it did before? The toilet’s water level is higher than normal? A period of longer inactivity caused blockages to dry-up and form a barrier in your drains? Drainage blockages occur due to all sorts of reasons.

As a homeowner or restaurant owner, what will you do when this happens? 

The easy solution might be to pour some liquid drain cleaner into your lines, but are you sure that is actually a good idea? Are you sure that your problems will be all down the drain, just like the liquid? Chemicals will probably burn a little hole in the blockage which helps to get it flowing again, for a little while, but it will come back.

Here are a few reasons why you should consider using mechanical instead of chemical drain unblocking. 

Consider nature

A very hot topic these days is the environmental impact. As you know, drain cleaners with chemicals get poured and washed into the sewer system and eventually into the local waterways. Finally also doing their part in damaging plant and animal habitats. Hand and mechanical drain cleaners have no impact on nature as they unclog your pipes without the use of any chemical components. They either get the blockage out of your drain, after which you can dispose of it in the garbage or they break up the blockages, after which they get washed into the sewer system but without the hazardous chemicals.

Consider your health

Not only will you have to safely store these chemicals, but you also need to be extremely cautious in the usage of liquid drain cleaners. Contact with bare skin needs to be avoided at all times as these chemicals can cause serious burns. If ingested, liquid drain cleaners can be fatal. If used properly and according to the manual, hand and mechanical drain cleaners are a much safer alternative for the operator.

Consider your drains

Chemical drain cleaners can dissolve clogs, but they could easily dissolve much more. With regular use or when used with compromised pipes, liquid drain cleaners could create holes or seriously damage your pipe. A hand or mechanical tool, however, will clean and de-clog your pipe without damaging it.

Consider your wallet

Low-cost liquid drain cleaners could unclog your drains, but it is most likely you will need to run back to the store and get more, as sometimes they are only temporary solutions. The investment cost of a hand or mechanical tool may seem high at first, but it will do the job on the first try and will last you a lot longer than a supply of chemicals will.

What if you do have a Blocked Drain?

RIDGID manufactures a diverse range of residential and professional Drain Cleaning equipment to tackle these annoying obstructions. All high quality and durable solutions and unmissable to have in the house or your work van.

Your home solution? Use one of our Hand Spinners or the popular PowerClear. These residential-use tools and machines can retrieve objects out of the sink and shower drain if they’re not too far down and can get everything flowing like normal again. Actually, we believe it may even be a must-have tool in your garage or garden shed to keep handy at all times.

Blockages farther down the drain? RIDGID’s newest addition is called Flexshaft. It cleans drains with high speed and without the need for an extensive set-up, just a cordless drill is enough. The special penetrating chain knocker tools mounted on the end of the cable are designed to penetrate and break up heavy build-ups of wet wipes blockages and a lot of other types of soft material, like soap-, hair- and grease built-ups.

K-40 and K-45 Sink Machines are the professional’s choice when it comes to tackling those residential blockages from the sink or shower drains. They are powerful, durable and versatile machines, offering different cable and tool options to tackle a wide range of blockages.

Discover now the full range of RIDGID drain cleaning tools!