The outside drain that takes the water from the kitchen sink & washing machine is blocked - that's not the rant, that's just the background...

I'm only talking about 4 feet from the inlet to the nearest drain cover, so I tried my drain rods... shifted a bit, but the problem was in the water trap where the rods wouldn't go.

Had a few half-bottles of the 'new and improved' drain unblockers, so I thought I'd try those - not a sausage. Thought I'd try the old faithful, caustic soda... but have you tried buying any lately? Apparently dodgy characters use it in the process to make methamphetamine so it's getting very hard to buy.

Screwfix, B&Q, Toolstation will gladly sell me the 'new and improved' stuff (that doesn't work) at anything from £8 up to £20 for 500ml but, eventually, I found that Homebase sells caustic soda for £3.75p - but I had to drive 15 miles each way to get it. I bought 2, for future-proofing.

Made up the stuff to the instructions, poured it down the drain and the blockage cleared within 5 minutes...

I'm really getting to detest the "a few nasty/stupid people misuse the product, so nobnody can have it" attitude that's becoming more and more commonplace...

"new and improved" these days means it,s so weak you can drink it, bit like paint stripper.
i had the same problem last year, after spending a fortune i called the water co, half hour later matey turns up with his jetting machine, cleared in 5 mins, never used them before so no charge, he was supprised when i gave him a £20 , i had spent more that that on stuff that didnt work

quote:

---

Originally posted by David Jenkins
The outside drain that takes the water from the kitchen sink & washing machine is blocked - that's not the rant, that's just the background...

I'm only talking about 4 feet from the inlet to the nearest drain cover, so I tried my drain rods... shifted a bit, but the problem was in the water trap where the rods wouldn't go.

Had a few half-bottles of the 'new and improved' drain unblockers, so I thought I'd try those - not a sausage. Thought I'd try the old faithful, caustic soda... but have you tried buying any lately? Apparently dodgy characters use it in the process to make methamphetamine so it's getting very hard to buy.

Screwfix, B&Q, Toolstation will gladly sell me the 'new and improved' stuff (that doesn't work) at anything from £8 up to £20 for 500ml but, eventually, I found that Homebase sells caustic soda for £3.75p - but I had to drive 15 miles each way to get it. I bought 2, for future-proofing.

Made up the stuff to the instructions, poured it down the drain and the blockage cleared within 5 minutes...

I'm really getting to detest the "a few nasty/stupid people misuse the product, so nobnody can have it" attitude that's becoming more and more commonplace...

---

If you can still get it without a license in a normal retail store, the "few nasty people" reason is nonsense and that's just what the shop staff said to explain why they don't stock it anymore.

I've been able to find all manner of dangerous chemicals freely available at local shops and online. If I'm not on a list somewhere I'll be amazed.

I've found sulphuric acid good for unblocking drains before - now, of course, you can't buy it, except as a registered business, as people were using it as a weapon (so if found carrying it, they could not be done for carrying a weapon, as it did not fall under the legislation). I have recently given my last half-bottle to my parents, as they got mortar down the drain during flagging of the path at the back of their house, so now I have none for future use.

Trouble is folks have tried unblocking drains with one chemical, had no luck, tried another chemical and ended up creating a noxious gas
iirc there was an incident up north where someone died

The chemical we used to use at work for drain un-blocking has now been 'watered down' to make it safer

Bit like the Nitromoors, the old stuff was great but the new friendly stuff very poor

Lead-free solder. All I'm saying!!! Grrrr.....

re Sulphuric acid I suspect a trip to the used car batteries at the tip with a bottle and a funnel would be fruitful, they're only after the lead in them so suspect the acid in them just ensures the drains at the tip stay squeeky clean. Battery acid is 37% whereas anything about 15% is prohibited on its own.

The restriction on acids is very annoying. I used to have a nice collection of noxious acids for brewing purposes. Now it's all much weaker (other than the 75% phosphoric acid).

quote:

---

Originally posted by BenB
Lead-free solder. All I'm saying!!! Grrrr.....
Battery acid is 37% whereas anything about 15% is prohibited on its own.

.

---

Blocked urinal at work the other day.

I couldn't buy One-shot easily but it seems to have just been rebranded and the new version was available at B&Q.
It didnt work!

The 'plumber' I called showed up with a long bendy spring thing and a drill. Shoved it in the access points and 5 minutes later it was all cleared.

You can still buy all of these exciting chemicals at ReAgent - just order online (I do not recall ever being asked what I wanted it for).I have a gallon of 98% sulphuric acid in the attic ,,,just in case I need to dispose of a body...

As a Chemist (Industrial), I sympathise. You might think it's all sunny in industry land, but increasing regulation has pretty much made anything a real 'task' to get done, particularly a novel process. Just send out the requirements to China (etc.) and what you need comes back (as long as the ship doesn't get stuck) before you can even start on the regulatory paperwork here. Hey Ho.

As for drains, I have a septic tank, everything is prone to blocking, regularly. An 15 metre attachment on the pressure washer shoots up all the pipework like errr.... a rat in a drainpipe (not too uncommon either), clearing everything.

You can still buy monster sulphuric acid at B&q, it's in a brown card box in the drain section. I got some the other day for anodising.

By far the biggest pain in the ass I've found with this was gunk. I used the red stuff to hot degrease parts, works a treat. Popped into hafrauds to get more and found they only had green stuff available. Took that, popped it in my warming tub, warned it. Should have read the label which clearly days "do not heat". Oops.

Opened the lid, got a steamy face full of caustic and spent a night in hospital waiting for my lungs to slough off cells and suffocate me. Since then I've suffered very irritable lungs! My own daft fault!


[Edited on 30/8/21 by coyoteboy]