Unclog or Unblock Sinks, Tubs and Toilets with a Drain Blaster

If you wake up every morning to a sink full of water, you know how annoying it is to deal with this common problem. It's not only a bother, but also unsanitary. Your sink or tub is full of the same dirt, dead skin cells, spit, and other bacteria that you rinsed off of your body earlier. The problem is usually an easy fix-there's just a ball of hair or gunk in the pipe that has built up over time.

Luckily, there are a variety of pipe and drain cleaning tools that do the same work as a plumber, except minus the expensive visiting and service fees.

There are pipe cleaners, like the Turbo Snake that you've probably seen on television. This will pull the hair ball out of a tight drain, but only if the hair ball is a fairly short distance down the pipe. Liquid drain cleaners can be effective, but are made of caustic chemicals and you have to let the chemical sit in the drain for a long period of time before using the sink again. If someone wakes up in the middle of the night and washes his hands, this might dilute the chemical and make it harder to break down the clog.

If you have a tough clog that is fairly deep into the pipe, your best bet may be a drain blaster tool (like the Cobra Air Drain Blaster or the BAAM! Drain Blaster tool). These types of tools use air pressure to clear out clogs deep within your drain.

The process is fairly simple. Fill the sink with about an inch of water (if it is not already). Connect the handle to the tool and then pump it until you can't pump anymore. You then secure the opening of the tool over the drain and press the button. A burst of air pressure is released into the pipe, pushes the clog through, and voila, the sink starts draining immediately. This works for toilets and tubs too.

I didn't believe that this type of drain blaster product could work for unclogging sinks and toilets until I actually used one myself. We had a tough clog in our bathroom sink for some weeks. We tried a drain blaster and now it runs clean all the time.

So before you call the plumber and spend hundreds of dollars to unclog or unblock a sink, toilet, or tub drain, try a drain blaster tool first. For about 20 bucks compared to $300+, it's worth a try.