Horrible plug holes

Knit_Minion

We have problems with gunk in our kitchen sink, and although I now have a sink snake, I found pipe cleaners are useful to poke around with.

They are actually jumbo pipe cleaners for children to use for craft and were not expensive, but have been worth every penny. I think I got them from Rymans or Wilkos.

rosie383

That's a great idea!! I honestly didn't think of pipe cleaners. And then I don't have to try to wash a gunky yucky brush. I will have a look in The Works and Wilko's tomorrow.

And Mojisola I did try the thick bleach, but I want to get in there and scrub it!

gayleygoo

If using anything to poke around in your plughole, be careful you don't drop it in. I've just spent half an hour trying to get the dental scrapey thing out of my plughole. First, I tried using a large paperclip, half unfolded, to try to catch the loop of the scraper. Didn't work. Next, I watched a couple of videos on youtube on how to remove the bendy pipe bit - turns out I don't have the physical strength to unscrew the thing myself.

I then tore through several "random stuff" drawers until I found the tiny magnets I'd bought a few years ago to make a fishing game for my kids. Success! That got it out. Thankfully. I didn't want to have to explain to OH why his tooth scraper was down the sink

For future reference though, the half-unbent paperclip scrapes out black gunk pretty well too

rosie383

Update folks!!

Pipe cleaners are amazing! Thanks Knit Minion!

I got a pack of 50 for £1 in Wilkos. They are long ones, maybe 12". Some sparkly ones in there which I'm pretty sure my LO will have fun with.

It was pretty horrible, but because you can bend them in any direction, they do the job amazingly well. It was shocking how much gunk there was up in under the spokes bit of the plughole. I had no idea there was even a kind of rim under there. I was at it for a while, every time I thought I had all the gunk out, I would do a last wee bit and find more!
Because they are long, you can double them up, use them long, quadruple them even if you need to make them firmer, and they are not in any danger of disappearing down the hole.
I feel for you Galeygoo. I ended up having to use one of the kids' magnets to retrieve my good tweezers which DD1 had tried to use to poke something out that she had dropped down.

I have to say to everyone who thinks they have a clean plughole, I bet a good hoke with a pipe cleaner will find muck! Strangely satisfying.

PixieDust

The velcro thing you need is called a drain weasel, and they have them in the ninety nine pence shop

Emmy_durst

Oh dear, I have the same problem in my kitchen, but it's not exactly stuck as well, but when you wash dishes and etc, the water took some time to drain out. I've also tried hot water and poking it with a long stick. But I've gotten some great ideas from here and I'm gonna try the hook pipe cleaner! It's gonna be pretty satisfying if it works!

rosie383

Get the long ones Emmy. And if it is slow draining, I'd definitely go for a cupful of soda crystals and boiling water down there first.

gayleygoo

If your sink is slow draining Emmy, there could be a build up of food in the pipe bend. Washing soda crystals and boiling water can do the trick, but if not you may need to consider some minor plumbing DIY (or pay a plumber of course, but I dread to think what they'd charge for such a simple fix.)

Rosie thanks for the update on the pipe cleaners. I forgot to get some in town this morning but they sound like they work better than the dental scraper. You're right, the plughole gunk is incredibly disgusting yet oddly satisfying to hoke out

allybee101

Sounds like you've alerady found a solution. If you need anything longer you could look for the cleaning wands that come with Camelbak/hydration packs which have the long tube to drink from. It's a long length of flexible plastic tubing with a mini brush at the end like this
http://www.camelbak.com/en/International/Sports-Recreation/Accessories/Cleaning-Brush-Kit.aspx

Reckon you could find similar in any outdoors shop.

The waste pipe from my sink travels almost horizontally for about 6 ft before it reaches the main down pipe, it clogged up last year (despite not letting grease or food down it). I found a metal slinky type thing in B&Q that worked wonders. It's about 6ft long, with the last inch or two worked into a stiff corkscrew so you can work it into any blockages. They also sell an excellent drain unblocker in a yellow bottle- sent this down afterwards and it worked splendidly. Says it's safe for all pipe types on the bottle.