This is why it is so great that you explain everything so clearly to the customer! I grew up thinking that "drain cleaner", with various brand names, and which had sodium hydroxide as one of the main components, was what we always should use if a plunger doesn't solve the problem. We tried all the amateur methods before calling in a professional plumber. I'm sure the plumbers found the results very annoying. I know better now.
It depends on what is blocking the drain. If it is hair, skin cells and toothpaste then, NaOH is fine. But NaOH plus fat... that's just going to give you soap. ;) Best thing: DON'T put fat down your drain. Let the fat or oils get hard and cool on your pots and dishes, then wipe it away with paper towels and throw that in the garbage. Not down the drain. My mother used to pour fat and oil into an empty coffee can and keep it under the stove until it was full. Better in a coffee can than blocking the plumbing.
We don't pour fat on our drain but there is also a back flow due to grease buildup. Im starting to think that slope (improper) plays a significant role in this. The small amounts of oil thats left on our plates and utensils maybe slowly builds up on the lowest part of the pipes. So yeah, i just said this because i think some of their clients dont pour fat on their sinks too but suffer from an improper slope
@@joshuariosa5756 there wouldn't be grease buildup unless they sent in down their drain. I have lived on three different continents. Never ever has this been a problem.
@@blockeddrainkorea312 Are you a licensed plumber ? If so, why in the heck would you mislead your clients and lie to them, telling them that bad plumbing, pipes that were so bellied they stayed completely full, forming a very long trap that fails inspection in every country on earth "will not give them problems again for years" ? There is good reason pipes are not installed that way, and good reason that is prohibited in plumbing codes. OH that's right, they give you money and smile if they think the problem is gone, instead of being just a temporary band-aid on the problem.
@@deconteesawyer5758 rude , and because the pipe probably won’t clog again for a few years.... all plumbing in Korea appears to pretty bad.. a lot of negative slope. And people seem to love pouring grease down the sink.....
Awwww... I really felt for the lady who said she was going to sleep well that night! This has obviously been weighing heavily on her for a long time! Great work, guys!
I think this video is a great example of how Koreans are benefiting from having a RU-vid channel like Drain Kings to learn about how pipes work. And maybe it will also mean that other plumbers will have to up their game if they aren't providing endoscopy service.
I guess it is just as I have wondered for a while now if potassium hydroxide wouldn't be a better drain cleaner then sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide converts fat into solid soap wich will then block up the pipe. Potassium hydroxide on the other hand generates liquid soap wich will easy flow away instead of blocking up the pipe.
Yh always ask the customer if they've used any drain cleaner. That stuff can give you really bad chemical burns if you get it on your skin because you're working with pipework and you don't know it's there. Good unblock and very well explained.
That's what happens to your heart if you eat too much grease and salt. The arteries get filled, eventually block and you get heart attack. Take care of your drains and your hearts.
not really. the entire ideology of cholesterol has been refuted . excessive carbohydrates in the form of vegetables or fruits or sugars and hydrogenated seed oils disrupt the body and blood
Thanks for another great video Cap, Yang and Choi! I never knew that Sodium Hydroxide could be a bad thing to use in a greasy drain blockage but I'm very happy to have learned that today.
No kidding, I used this stuff to unclog my bathtub, It is really quite nasty, because my bathtub was so clogged that I made a geyser (fascinating view, but it's fumes are really corrosive). Also when I tried to push it with plunger I got nasty burns (I'm fine it was not big deal to me, I got similar burns earlier with a boiling water or oil). So don't try it in home, unless you have a protective wear.
In the cases of a bend to keep water in to hold the smell back, would it best for the owners to make sure they run clean water thru the pipes and make sure to flush as much grease down when they gump the grease?
So to recycle, i should pour fats and oils down my drain, let it simmer for a year, then had some Lye over time. Let that simmer for about a year, then call a plumber and collect all my free soap?
if by chance, you have enough money to buy an auger machine, buy one. Auger machine is the best solution for you and your neighbors clogging problem. You can have it rented for return of investment.
1. All blockage in the sink was cleared by the use of Sodium Hydroxide when they got there. Proven when they put the camera in, all was good till they got much further down the sewer to where the original problem was.
Just dont pour oil down the sink, empty it into old bottles and recycle it or dump it into normal trash so then atleast you save money on plumbers, here they even pay you for the old oil.
Are there any drain cleaner products you do recommend for grease buildup? I think the previous tenant in my place might have been pouring greasy things down the toilet. Ever since winter started I've been having constant drain problems.
in that country the weather is very cold so there tends to be lots of soups or bone broths . the famous soup is called Seolleongtang , a collagen rich pork . looks like ramen. so if you have households that do not know how plumbing pipes work , you often find bad pipe management where people pour animal fats down the drains or toilets and that stuff solidifies over time. if sodium hydroxide contacts then soap is made in the pipes, worsening the problem. the solution here was to blender the stuck stuff off the pipes for better water flow
@@munirahbakar4123 Sodium hydroxide with bits of aluminum could be lots of fun as it would also produce hydrogen allowing you to insert a fireplace lighter in a stopper at the sink for a truly entertaining method of getting water to go down the sink. Check out explosive gopher removal.
i feel sorry for the amount of arguments that happened here and elsewhere bc the sodium hydroxide might have worked in the beginning. and eventually the cameras showed the blindspots that most likely the man of the house never consider until he got humbled. and it is probably why the lady said she can finally sleep well that night. the problems in life are not that easy and do not let a person’s angry ego ruin a respectful and balanced solution with the help of people. no one makes it in life alone. we all can help everyone 👍
What is it with Asians and putting things in the sink/toilet that don't belong there? Years ago my grandpa had a fourplex and one unit had a big vietnamese family in it. We were called in CONSTANTLY to clear out the sink and toilets because they were always pouring grease and other shit in the sink and toilets. The toilets were the worst; I remember snaking it out once and there were about 1,000 paper towels and non flushable baby wipes, along with food waste like tons of shrimp shells and other nasty shit. No matter how many times we told them not to put that shit in the sink/toilet they kept doing it until we had to kick them out.
I wouldn’t stereotype so much. You hear about tenants from every different race doing something there not suppose to. Usually renters don’t care because it’s not their place so they just dump things they’re not suppose to.