New Year’s Day the sink backed up. I had unclogged it a few days earlier with a 25-foot snake. Took the S-trap off, emptied the water, ran it through a few times. When everything was reconnected. I boiled a couple pots of hot water and ran it through for good measure.
My guess is that I only moved the obstruction further down the pipe. PRO TIP: do not run a block of butter through the garbage disposal. Doing so turns it into a block of whipped butter that clogs the pipe.
Anyway.
This time the snake was not the charm. Called 3 plumbers and only one was willing to come out for an extra holiday fee.
Went and bought Drain-O, poured half a bottle down the sink at 11:56 AM. The advertising slogan says, WORKS IN 15 MINUTES!
Except it didn’t. About an hour later I put the rest of the bottle down the sink.
Not only was it not working, but the sink was now filling up with water from knows where.
Because it is a harmful chemical, now I’m worried about on the kids or pets touching the murky water. Or that I’m going to have to bail it out and remove the S-trap and snake it again.
Plumbers don’t like having to work around Drain-O because consumers are too cheap to call them in the first place.
The dishes were piling up in just a couple hours. You realize how much you need indoor plumbing when you don’t have it.
Checked on it throughout the day as 15 minutes turned into hours. Water wasn’t getting any higher but it was ugly. Did see a couple air bubble float to the surface, so that was hopeful.
Forgot about it for a bit. Went downstairs after a few more hours …
AND THE SINK WAS MIRACULOUSLY CLEAN!
All the water down where it was supposed to be and even the sink looked brighter.
Microwave clock said 7:23 PM.
Elapsed time for Drain-O to work on the whipped butter fatberg was 8 hours and 27 minutes.
Not something they are likely to put on their packaging, because 15 minutes sounds like magic.
Moral of the story: The majority of advertising claims are truthful – in that they do eventually work. Might not be as fast as they say, or as fast as you like. But it will work.
This applies to your marketing efforts as well as what you are selling.