Horrible plug holes

Eenymeeny

A piece of curtain wire with the hook still attached is good for 'raking out' and biological washing powder mixed with boiling water, poured down, and left for a while is pretty good for cleaning. (If you can possibly block up the whole pipe from the outside for a little while, it would clear the whole pipe but don't forget to unblock it!)

lindens

i have those grid things in my plug hole in the kitchen but i can take them out and clean underneath them - can you not?

Tink_04

We get some bottle teat/part cleaners with the baby bottles and I use these - they are like little mascara wands.

rosie383

Thanks for all the suggestions.
My search goes on however.

Lindens I do take the plug grid thing out, but it is the bit underneath that that I can't get at. It's like a conventional plughole with its own 'spokes'.

Eeny Meeny: It isn't actually blocked, so I don't need to unblock the whole thing. It's just gunky just under the 'spokes' bit of the plughole.

Spendless we don't have the Range near us. but it sounds as if that would work.

Tink: That is exactly what I have been looking for. I have been into every pound type shop, pet shop, B&Q and supermarkets and can only find big bottle brushes. Even bigger than I currently have at home. There is one on the market which has a fat end and a small end, but even the small end looks as if it may be too fat. And it is more expensive than I would like to pay in case it doesn't fit.
I had KMed all the bathroom stuff a month or two ago, including some old make up, which definitely included at least one old mascara with wand.
Ah well, hopefully when the car boots start up again I will find something to use.
Just thought, what could I put on the end of a metal skewer to shove down to clean it? I have some J cloths but I think the skewer would just shove through the cloth. Any thicker material such as old vest 'cloths' probably will be too big to fit down the holes if I put it on the end of a skewer.

[Deleted User]

Why is it getting grunged up, are you putting fat and food waste down it? When I finish washing the sink I pull the plug out and go around the plughole with the scrubbing brush as the water empties. That usually gets it plenty clean enough, but I make sure I scrape fat and food into the bin, not the sink.

rosie383

No. Nothing noticeable is going down the hole. I have those strainer things. It's more of a general slimy dirtiness while the rest of the sink sparkles. And tbh if I wasn't looking for it I wouldn't see it. It's not excessive by any means, it just annoys me.

Eenymeeny

As you say Rosie383 the search goes on! I didn't think that the pipe was blocked, I was suggesting blocking the other end so that soapy water stayed in it for a while. (I've read that people leaving oven shelves and badly marked pans soaking in bio detergent have had some success.) Maybe leaving something like a wet towel that dripped the solution down the drain overnight might help?
I must admit that I just add bleach to water and leave the plug just open a tiny bit overnight ... (You do know the trick of putting depilatory cream down bathroom plugholes is supposed to melt any hair away? It might work but I'd worry that it might damage chrome fittings.)

rosie383

I don't like the idea of depilatory cream down the plug hole. Yuck it's sticky and gloopy. I just hoik the hairs out regularly.

I think I will hunt through DD1s teenagey stuff as she may have an old mascara wand lurking.

Ash_McCloud

You'll have something like this



under your sink. If you place a bucket or basin underneath and unscrew the U shaped pipe at the bottom (It unscrews by hand), you can clear anything out of that pipe and also stick an implement up the pipe to the plughole to clear anything that might be obstructing.

When you're replacing it make sure you put the little black rubber washers back in, then pour lots of water down the sink to check you've re-fitted it properly. Check for drips.

Mojisola

Have you tried thick bleach that clings to the surfaces?