Drains and Plumbing

Solvent Drain Cleaners are Dangerous

Other earlier drain cleaners included solvents and distillates, usually made of petroleum products. People have used paint thinner to clean their drains, with disastrous results in the environment, as the carcinogenic fluids wind up in ground water. Aside from their poisonous nature, solvents are highly flammable, making them dangerous to store and to use. While solvents may indeed dissolve a clog, they create a much larger problem in terms of health and safety: many solvent-based drain cleaners are no longer sold due to the cancer-causing hydrocarbons they contained. In the modern class of solvent-based drain cleaners is the citrus-based one, Citrusolve.
It smells good—like oranges. But it is extremely flammable, and a drain cleaner with a low flash point is unsafe around gas pilot lights, people with cigarettes, or the candle burning nearby. Storage is also an issue, since in hot weather, containers can explode. Sometimes it can even happen in cold weather, as many people store their household cleaners in basements or closets where hot water pipes or water heaters run.

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Natural Drain Cleaner for Clogged Drains

The first thing you need to know before working on a clogged drain is that the drain cleaners you see advertised on TV or on the supermarket shelves are made of dangerous chemicals that will eat through rubber gloves, skin, certain kinds of pipe, wood and anything else they touch. If their fumes are inhaled, they can cause damage to the lungs, nose and mouth. If they are eaten, they will kill, even in small amounts. Even when they are used "properly", they can ruin septic systems, pollute groundwater, and destroy pipes.

For a more healthy and safe alternative, try a natural drain cleaner, such as Drainbo, that is made from natually occuring bacteria that will fix a clogged drain, but won't hurt your drain pipes or the environment.

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