Best way to unclog a sink?
 

Any recommendations?

2 step process...

1. get it open - plumber, plunger, perhaps some strong drain opener/straight lye. and don't use a plunger if you've got chemicals in there. (duh)

2. clear it out - drain opener. use either lye *carefully!* or get the good stuff...whatever looks good and strong at whatever store you go to.

3. prevention. for the future. careful what you put down there, and occasionally send some super hot water down there as well as maintenance drain opener.

if you try the plunger and/or chemical drain opener and still clogged go to the local hardware store and get a plumer's snake (ok, insert corny joke here). You can buy a small one for around $20-30 bucks, they're easy to use and should take care of the problem. Other course of action is get some towels, bucket, and pipe wrench and take off the drain trap (curved pipe under sink) if you clog is there you can use about anything to dig the crap out.

If none of this works, call the plumber. :)

May I suggest a cherry bomb. LOL! Actually briana has the best answer but I would take apart the trap before buying a snake, if you have drain cleaner in there be very careful not to get it in your eyes. Googles would be best.

I would always steer clear of chemicals for a stopped drain. If you pour in the chemical and nothing happens, now you have a sink full of caustic chemicals. I always use a plumber's snake first, and have never regreted it.

If the drain is just running slow, feel free to use a liquid drain cleaner...

If it's the kitchen sink you should hope it's the trap. If you use the garbage disposal a lot and don't run the water for a while afterwards you could have some food lodged WAY down in the pipe. I had this problem, had to pay $90 to get a plumber out with a 150ft snake.

I dunno, but for our shower, boiling hot water mixed with foaming pipe-snake stuff (drano crap that mixes together) is the best shit we've ever used :)

Give it a shot if you've yet to.

Another vote for the trap. I had to do this a week ago. Couldn't get the snake to clear it up (it was a cheap piece of crap), so I took the elbow pipe off and cleaned it out. Presto!

kitchen sink, run hot water for at least 10 minutes, then snake as long as you can in there.

bathroom sink, same and some of that blue balls thing unclog crap at the local store.

i hope this helps. remember if you are doing the sink in the bathroom don't use a snake too strong otherwise the pipes get broken. They are not as strong as the ones for the kitchen sink.

Later.

prevention in kitchen - Once a month I fill sink 100% full with hot-ass water - mix in a little dishwashing machine soap and pul the plug with tongs (that soap will melt your skin if you reach in). Otherwise, to clear I NEVER use that crap chemicals because most of the time it doesn't work and you are stuck trying to fix a drain full of extremely caustic chemicals. Good old toilet plunger will clear it 9 times out of 10. I never Had to buy a snake. Also, if it is a bathroom sink then you need to take apart/out the stopper assembly b/c sometimes it is hair and gook stuck to the plunger - especially if someone in the house has long hair.

I use caustic soda.Wo0rks for us - inc daughter's long hair.

A 2-liter soda bottle can be used as a drain opener in many cases. Works very well on toilets too. Fill the bottle with water, invert it into the drain(the drain has to be full of water so the water doesn't just drain out of the bottle), and ram down on the bottom of the bottle as hard and as fast as you can. If the drain is connected to another(like a double kitchen sink), has an overflow (bathroom sink or bath tub), you will have to block the other outlet to prevent the water spraying out. You may have to enlist a helper for that. Sometimes you have to cut the top off the bottle so it seals with the drain opening. The hydraulic force you can generate this way will push just about anything through the pipe.

I have a product I cannot recall the name for, but it works wonders. It fits on the end of a garden hose, and you place it IN the pipe as far as you reasonably can.. then turn on the water. A rubber part of the device expands, sealing the pipe, and it continues to pulse and build pressure until the clog is forced loose. The disadvantage of this showed up in my bathroom sink, which I did not realize had overflow holes in the front lip... I turned on the water, and before I got back inside the house, I had water EVERYWHERE! Then I stood there confused for a bit before I realized what was going on and ran back outside... Thank the good lord for wet / dry shopvacs......