How to Unclog a Sink Drain Fast

Before using chemical cleaners or disassembling the pipe trap to unclog a sink drain, try one of these methods:

• • Drain Snake: A drain snake is great for removing hair from slow draining bathroom sink or tub drains. Insert the drain snake down the sink drain until it reaches the clog, then pull it back up. The brush or hooks on the end of the snake latch onto the hair and pull it out.

• Plunger: When using a plunger to remove sink clogs, cover the overflow drain found on bathroom sinks and tubs or the second drain on double kitchen sinks to allow you to apply more pressure on the clog.

After the sink is unclogged, run hot water down it to flush out any grease. Watch this video to find out more.

Further Information

• How to Unclog a Tub Drain (video)
• Unclogging a Slow Draining Bathtub (video)
• Eliminating Sink and Tub Drain Odors (video)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: Erin wants to know, “What do you recommend as the quickest and easiest way to unclog a drain?”

If your sink is clogged, like this, you’re definitely looking for the quickest and easiest way to get it unclogged. And the over the counter drain cleaners work most of the time, but they can be a little damaging to your pipes.

Before you try that, try this. This is a drain snake and has, a brush or sometimes several hooks on the end that will allow you to reach down and grab any hair that maybe clogging up your sink, particularly in a bathroom.

But if you have a lot of grease and food, you need a little pressure, and everybody has one of these. Very, very effective in unclogging the sink.

But if you have a double sink, like this, you want to make sure you take your stopper on the open side of the sink and seal that off so that that’ll put more pressure on the side of the plunger.

And then that’d be very successful in blowing through the clogged area. Then follow that up with plenty of hot water.