Cleaning plumbing snake

I used everything to open the blocked drain in my kitchen. The clog is far from the U shaped trap under the sink. You have to understand that why restaurants need to use a grease trap. The blockage happens repeatedly at about 20 ft from the sink.

Everything works, but have their limits. Sulfuric acid openers are most powerful. But some say that they push the block further and further away from the sink. This seems to be true for my case. But the main problem is that if you pour a bottle of acid down 20 ft of 2in pipes, there's nothing much of it left to do the job. I already pour the acid down bypassing the U-trap. The trap itself holds about half the bottle. Also I left the acid overnight instead of 15 minutes. They are supposed to be safe if used as directed. I'm not sure for overnight.

The safe and effective alternative is gel. It's not supposed to be diluted by water. So the same amount that your pour down will get there, eventually. It works and I am happy to leave it overnight. But I have to pour 128 oz of strong gel down there.

Exploding bladder using water pressure is a good one. But it's messy and the blockage will come back soon if you do not do something else. But it's chemical free and it's free.

I used the plumbing snake once. It worked but I don't understand what's the problem. Because the tip of the snake captured some grease solid. I hate to clean it up and left it in a corner of the yard to rot. It did rot.

Now I understand that the whole 2" tube is deposited by grease solid, leaving a tiny passage for water. Therefore it clogs frequently and slow drain most of the other times. There's no way you can clear that up using chemicals down 20 ft of pipe.

Snake seems to be the only option now. And if recurring slow drain is your problem, you should not waste time on other methods.

A hand held snake using electric drill cost less than 3 bottle of sulfuric acid or gel. That's a bargain in my case.

Now I understand that the snake is corrosion resistant, but you need to oil it to prevent corrosion.

The problem is to clean it before oiling it.

Mine is a common cheap one. The important point is that it can be easily pry open so you can take out the snake to clean and put it back easily. There's almost no metal part except for the drill connector. It's isolated from the inside of the casing so you can keep it absolutely dry if you want. So you can wash the plastic casing in degreaser.

The snake itself is a terrible thing to clean. It's not just the foul smell. It's the grease accumulated on the pipe that got trapped into the snake instead. Of course you do not need to clean it. But then where do you store it? I have a garage but you don't it to smell of foul grease for days. You can store it outdoors but it would easily rot if you do not treat it well.

Degreaser doesn't do a thing on the snake. Not unless you polish the snake with a cloth repeatedly.

I had the idea to use brake cleaner. It's like a dust blower for computers but with solvent. It's a aerosol spray with tube, dries very quickly leaving no residue. It works pretty good depending how much you spray on the snake. A whole bottle only cost a few dollars. The best part is that I do not need to touch anything, except wiping the dirt off with a disposal rag towel.

The bad part - it's a cancer causing aerosol. Nowadays they contain no CFC and none of the more harmful chemicals. But it's still cancer causing (what isn't?). But if you do not inhale the vapour, there's shouldn't be any harm done to you. I do it in the yard stretching the snake on a foot path. When I have to breath I run away to the other side of the house.

There are other aerosols that may be safer. But the brake cleaner dries very fast without residues.

When it's dry I'll add WD40 to oil it. WD40 isn't a proper lubricant. It got some cleaning properties as well. But it's pretty safe - at least non cancer causing. It sort of "dries" fast but the smell lingers. I hang the snake over the swings until the smell is gone. Then I put it back into the casing ready for next time.