Cleaning your drains is a very important thing to do that is often overlooked. If you don’t keep your drains nice and clean, this can lead to foul odors and dangerous bacteria.
This is why it is so important to have a successful drain cleaner to keep your drains sparkly clean! Both Liquid Plumr and Drano are great drain cleaners, but let’s have a look at which one is better!
This article will explore both of these drain cleaners, helping you decide which one to purchase to keep the dirtiest places in our homes nice and clean!
Other Ways To Clean Your Drains
There are a few other ways to clean your drains, if you don’t want to use either of these chemical cleaners. You can try any of the following:
- Use mechanical methods that go down the drain to clean them, such as plumber’s snake
- Use homemade remedies
Liquid Plumr Vs Drano
Both of these products are chemical cleaners. They contain sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite.
Drano is a drain cleaner that was invented in 1923. It was created by S.C Johnson & Son, an American manufacturer. This company held 90% of the market for drain cleaners, until Liquid Plumr came on the scene.
Liquid Plumr relied on heavy advertising, and managed to take over half of the market.
Liquid Plumr
Liquid Plumr has a triple action formula that is great for cleaning the drains. It provides fantastic benefits.
This product is great at being able to pour through water that is standing in the drains. It can also unblock full clogs, protect pipes and fight those horrible odors that you so want to get rid of! It also helps to protect the pipes if you use this great product often.
Ingredients
Liquid Plumr contains two active ingredients. These are sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite, also known as bleach.
How Does Liquid Plumr Work?
When you mix this product with water, it will react. The bleach will react with the sodium hydroxide, making the product corrosive. It also releases heat.
Once it has become corrosive in this way, it will then travel through the pipes. The product will break down any blockages that it comes into contact with.
It will take around 15 minutes for this product to unclog the drain that it has been placed in. It works very quickly and effectively.
If you haven’t used the product in a long time, then you can always carry out the process twice to make sure that there are no blockages in the pipes.
Pros Of Liquid Plumr
Liquid Plumr is a fantastic product to use in order to keep your drains nice and clean. It is great for many reasons. These are:
- Works Quickly
This product works very quickly. It is very fast and can unclog drains in less than 15 minutes!
- Won’t Damage Your Plumbing
This product, while it is corrosive, will not damage your plumbing. It is designed to degrade the blockages, but not the pipes. They do not harm the bacteria in the septic systems.
- Multiple Options
There are many different variations of this product. You can choose which one suits you best, depending on what you need it for, or personal preference.
For instance, there is a Liquid Plumr Foaming Pipe Snake which will thicken into a foam and get into all the small places.
Cons Of Liquid Plumr
Liquid Plumr does have some negative aspects to it, too. These include:
- Damage Rubber Pipes
This product is too strong for rubber pipes. You should not use this product on rubber pipes at all as this can damage them and cause big issues in the longer term.
- Can’t Be Mixed With Ammonia
This product shouldn’t be mixed with ammonia. This is true of any product that has bleach in it, as these products will react with each other, creating a poisonous gas.
- Not As Successful With Toilet Blockages
Liquid Plumr is not as good at dissolving the matter that clogs toilets. It is much better when it is used in other drains.
Drano
Drano is an affordable and reliable way to unclog your drains. It will not cause any plumbing problems, or problems with your septic tank.
One of the main ingredients in Drano is sodium hydroxide, which is also in Liquid Plumr. As well as this, Drano has aluminum shards in it which creates a chemical reaction.
The chemical reaction that is produced generates a heat that is nearly the temperature of boiling water. This heat helps to break down the decomposition process.
The ingredients in this product also react with grease. It turns the grease into a soap which is dissolved with water.
After this chemical reaction has taken place, it prompts another. The product then reacts with the aluminum. This reaction causes hydrogen bubbles to form which can loosen particles in the drains.
This product starts off several different chemical reactions in a row, which make it a very strong and powerful product.
Pros Of Drano
Drano is a fantastic product which has been around for 100 years. It has stuck around for lots of different reasons. These include:
- Ease Of Use
Drano is very easy to use. The instructions are simple and clear, and you won’t need any specific skills to be able to carry out this process. Simply read the instructions, and do what they say!
- Affordable
Drano is very cheap to buy. It is much better value for money than any other product that would help to clear out your drains.
- Quick
This product is very effective, and it works in under 15 minutes. Within 15 minutes, your drain will be unclogged. It is great at dissolving very stubborn clogs in a short space of time.
- Dissolves Stubborn Clogs
Drano is able to unclog drains that are clogged with hair, food or grease.
Cons Of Drano
There are some downsides of using Drano over other products.
- Strong Chemical Reactions
This product creates very strong chemical reactions. While they are designed to break down clogs, they can sometimes cause damage to PVC pipes. Some plumbers recommend using lighter chemical cleaners.
- Can Be Harmful
If this product is not used correctly, then it can be harmful. Sometimes, the product may splash up, causing burns to your skin.
As well as this, the product may sometimes have a chemical reaction with other cleaning products that you may use, and this can cause toxic fumes.
It can also be harmful to the environment as it can cause dangerous toxins to be released in the water.
- Can’t Unclog Toilets
This product is heavier than water which means that it will not travel up the toilet to reach the area where the clog is. Instead, it will just sit in the toilet bowl.
Should You Choose Drano Or Liquid Plumr?
There is a lot of competition between these two brands. They produce very similar products, with very similar pros and cons.
Lots of different people have performed tests on the two, to compare the products.
Good Housekeeping has confirmed that Drano had the best overall drain cleaner of the two, while Liquid Plumr was the best drain cleaner for hair clogs.
Drano has better customer reviews than Liquid Plumr, but there is not much difference between the two.
In lots of ways, the products are very similar. For instance:
- They are very similar in their pricing
- Neither work on toilet clogs
- Both products cut through standing water
- Both are safe to use in septic systems
- Both take 15 minutes to work
- Both brands are reliable and trusted, with great customer service
Both of these products are great, and you should give them both a try. There might be one that you prefer, or one that works better on your drains. It is a great idea for you to test them out yourself.
Some customers believe that using one of these drain cleaners, and then the other, is the most effective way to ensure that your drains are cleared.
Frequently Asked Questions
Drano products won’t damage your pipes. They will remove clogs, but they won’t harm any type of pipe, whether they are metal or plastic. Lots of the products even contain ingredients that prevent the pipe from corroding.
Lots of drain cleaners could cause damage, so it is important to check this before you use them. As long as you follow the instructions on the Drano products, they will unclog your pipes safely.
No. Liquid Plumr won’t damage your pipes, either. This product will remove the clogs without causing any damage to the pipes.
No, you can’t unclog a toilet with either of these products. They are designed to unclog and clean drains and pipes, but not the toilet bowl.
This is because the product will sit in the bottom of the toilet bowl and won’t find its way down the pipes. As these products won’t clean a clogged toilet, there are lots of other options when it comes to unclogging completely blocked toilets.
Final Thoughts
There are some pros and cons to both of these products, and they are actually very similar in their specifications. It is a good idea for you to try out both of these products to see which one you prefer.
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