- 1 week ago
A clogged drain usually starts long before the water backs up, and the fix is simpler than most people think. Here, Elias Yoder shares a plumber’s five-and-forty-year wisdom: never let grease, soap scum, hair, food scraps, or starches build up in the first place. He explains why drains clog slowly inside rough pipe walls, then walks through the small habits that keep kitchen sinks, shower drains, and bathroom stoppers running clear.
The advice is practical and old-fashioned in the best way: wipe greasy dishes before washing, run hot tap water after cleanup, keep rice and pasta out of the drain, clear hair weekly, use fine mesh strainers, and flush every drain once a month. He also covers enzyme drain treatment, how to handle a slow drain early with a snake, and why twice-a-year trap cleaning can prevent bigger plumbing problems. It is a calm, hands-on home maintenance lesson rooted in Amish self-reliance and seasonal care.
Created for viewers searching for drain cleaning tips, clogged drain prevention, plumbing maintenance, kitchen sink clog fixes, shower drain hair removal, enzyme drain cleaner guidance, and simple home repair advice. This is useful for anyone who wants practical DIY plumbing habits, budget-friendly home care, and long-term drain maintenance without harsh chemicals.
The advice is practical and old-fashioned in the best way: wipe greasy dishes before washing, run hot tap water after cleanup, keep rice and pasta out of the drain, clear hair weekly, use fine mesh strainers, and flush every drain once a month. He also covers enzyme drain treatment, how to handle a slow drain early with a snake, and why twice-a-year trap cleaning can prevent bigger plumbing problems. It is a calm, hands-on home maintenance lesson rooted in Amish self-reliance and seasonal care.
Created for viewers searching for drain cleaning tips, clogged drain prevention, plumbing maintenance, kitchen sink clog fixes, shower drain hair removal, enzyme drain cleaner guidance, and simple home repair advice. This is useful for anyone who wants practical DIY plumbing habits, budget-friendly home care, and long-term drain maintenance without harsh chemicals.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a thing a plumber of 5 and 40 years said that stuck with me, and it is the
00:05heart of all I want to tell you today.
00:07He said in all his long life, fixing other folks clogged drains near every day, he had never once had
00:14a clogged drain in his own home.
00:16Not once.
00:18And it was no luck and no magic.
00:20It was that he knew a few plain habits, simple things anybody can do, that keep a drain running clear
00:27for a lifetime.
00:28And he did them faithfully.
00:31So today I am going to give you those habits, the whole of how a man goes a lifetime without
00:37ever once standing in a flooded shower or paying to clear a clogged line.
00:42And at the end I will give you the twice a year trick that is the single best thing of
00:46all, the one most folks never hear of.
00:49I am Elias, and I keep up this Lancaster County place with my own hands, the way my people always
00:56have, for out here a body fixes his own troubles, or they stay unfixed.
01:01So let me pass along this plumber's wisdom in plain terms, for it is exactly the kind of self-reliant,
01:08waste-nothing, tend-it-yourself sense the old people lived by, and it will save you a world of grief
01:15and money both.
01:16Let me tell you a thing my grandfather used to say, for it is the whole spirit of this video.
01:21He had a saying, that a stitch in time saves nine, which is an old one and you have heard
01:27it, but he lived it as few men do.
01:30He would walk his farm of a morning and tend the small things, the loose board before it became a
01:35hole, the worn strap before it broke, the dripping tap before it ruined the wood beneath.
01:41He said, the man who tends the small troubles never meets the large ones, and the man who ignores the
01:47small troubles meets nothing but large ones all his life.
01:51And it was true of him, for in all his years his place never fell to the great ruinous breakdowns
01:57that plagued his careless neighbors, because he never let a small thing grow into a large one.
02:02A clogged drain is exactly this lesson in a pipe. It is a large trouble that began as a small
02:09one, ignored, allowed to build, until it became a flood and a costly bill.
02:15Tend the small and the large never comes. Keep that before you through all I am about to say, for
02:21it is the real lesson, older than any pipe.
02:23First, let me tell you why a drain clogs at all, for once you see it, the whole of prevention
02:29makes plain sense.
02:31Here is the thing most folks never think on. The inside of your drain pipe is not smooth as glass.
02:37Even new pipe has little ridges where the lengths join, and old pipe is rougher still inside.
02:43So every time you wash something down, a thin film of residue catches and clings to those rough places, the
02:50grease, the soap, the hair, the bits of food, all of it leaving a little sticky layer.
02:56And the next bit that comes down sticks to that layer, and the next to that, the pipe narrowing a
03:02little more each week,
03:03just like fat narrowing a man's arteries, until the water runs a touch slower, and a touch slower, and then
03:10one day, a thing catches in that narrowed pipe and blocks it whole.
03:15And you say it clogged out of nowhere. But it was months in the making, building unseen.
03:20So the secret to never having a clog is not learning to clear one. It is never letting that buildup
03:26get started in the first place.
03:28And that begins in the kitchen.
03:29The kitchen sink is the number one place a clog starts, and it near always comes down to one thing.
03:36Grease.
03:37Now I am not just speaking of pouring a pan of bacon fat down the drain, for most folks know
03:42better than that.
03:43I mean the grease you never think about, the oily film on the supper plates, the butter melting off a
03:49knife, the bit of dressing left in the bowl.
03:52All of it goes down and coats the pipe.
03:54So here is the habit, the one this plumber kept for five and forty years.
03:59Before you wash any greasy or oily dish or pan, you wipe it down first with a bit of paper
04:06or an old rag.
04:07Just a quick wipe, three seconds, into the trash, and now near all the grease never reaches the drain at
04:13all.
04:13My ester has always done the like, scraping and wiping every plate near clean before it ever touches the dishwater,
04:21and our drains have run clear for it.
04:23And after you are done washing up, run the hot water a good thirty seconds, as hot as the tap
04:30gives, to flush any last residue on through the pipe before it can cool and cling to the walls.
04:36For grease is only dangerous to a pipe once it cools and hardens, so the trick is always to keep
04:44it moving and warm, right on through and out of your pipes and gone, never giving it the still cool
04:51moment it needs to settle and stick.
04:54Wipe away the most of it, and flush the little rest on through before it can rest.
05:01Quick word before I go further.
05:03The old methods my family uses, there is more of it than fits in any one video.
05:09I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
05:14The book is the long version.
05:16If you want it, it is there.
05:19I will not mention it again.
05:21And the other kitchen habit, never send the starchy foods down, the rice, the pasta, the potato peels.
05:29They swell with water and turn to a paste inside the pipe, and it matters not a whit if the
05:35English garbage grinder can chop them, for the trouble is not the grinding, it is what the paste does once
05:43it is past the grinder and in the pipe.
05:45Scrape those into the scrap pail or the compost every single time, and the potato peels and rice and pasta
05:53that would have turned to a swelling paste in your pipe, instead go to feed the hogs or the garden,
06:00doing good where they would have done harm.
06:04Now to the bathroom, for that is where the second most clogs happen, and there the culprit is near always,
06:11hair joined with soap scum.
06:14And here is the thing few folks know.
06:17Hair alone seldom clogs a drain, and soap scum alone seldom clogs a drain.
06:23But the two together are the trouble, for the soap scum acts like a glue that binds the hair into
06:30a thick, wet web inside the pipe, and that web catches everything else coming through, and before long, you have
06:39a full blockage sitting a hand's breadth or so below the drain.
06:44So here is what to do, and it is simple.
06:47Once a week, lift up the drain cover in your shower, and pull away the hair gathered around it.
06:54Fifteen seconds, not pleasant, but it works.
06:57And in the bathroom sink, lift out the little pop-up stopper, which lifts right out on most sinks, and
07:05clean the hair and gunk off it, for you would not believe what gathers on that little rod.
07:11And one thing more, this plumber switched from bar soap to the liquid soap years ago, for the bar soap
07:19makes far more of that scum than the liquid does, and that one change alone kept his drains noticeably cleaner.
07:27A small thing, but it is the small things all added up that make the difference.
07:32And the reason the weekly clearing matters so, is that the web builds from what it catches, so a little
07:40pulled away each week never gives it the chance to grow, while a stopper left uncleared for months gathers a
07:47great wet mat that finally lets nothing past at all.
07:51Clear it small and often, and it never becomes the big foul clump that means a real clog.
07:59Now here is one of the best habits of all, and it is so easy.
08:04Once a month, you do a hot water flush on every drain in the house.
08:08Here is how.
08:10You plug the drain, you fill the sink or the tub, clear up with the hottest water the tap will
08:16give, and then you pull the plug all at once.
08:19That whole volume of hot water rushing through the pipe at once makes a powerful flush that shoves out any
08:28early buildup before it can harden.
08:30For a double kitchen sink, do both sides.
08:34For the tub, a quarter full is still a great volume of water.
08:38It takes about five minutes of drain.
08:41And mind it is the all at once that matters.
08:44The full plug pulled, so the whole weight of water rushes through together.
08:49For a strong sudden surge scours the pipe far better than the same water run slow from the tap, which
08:57only trickles past the buildup without shifting it.
09:00It is the difference between a flash flood that scours a creek bed clean and a gentle stream that leaves
09:06it be.
09:07This plumber did it the first Saturday of every month over his morning coffee, till it was second nature.
09:14Now one important caution on that, and hear me, for it matters.
09:18If you have the older plastic pipe, use the hot water from your tap, not boiling water from a kettle.
09:26The boiling water can soften and weaken the plastic joints over time.
09:31The hot tap water, which runs around 120 degrees, is perfectly safe and does the work fine.
09:38So hot tap water, yes.
09:41A kettle of boiling water down plastic pipe, regular, no.
09:47Next, a word on drain strainers, for near everyone has them, and near no one uses them right.
09:53A strainer only works if it truly catches the debris before it goes down, which sounds plain enough,
10:00but what folks do is set one in the drain and then never empty it, so it fills and the
10:06water pools,
10:07and they either shove the gunk through or pull the strainer out because it is a bother.
10:13So here is the right way.
10:15Use the fine, stainless mesh strainers, not the kind with big punched holes that let the small bits right through,
10:22for the mesh catches even the fine food particles.
10:26They cost but a few dollars at any hardware store.
10:29And you empty it after every single use, after every washing up in the kitchen,
10:35after every shower in the bath, five seconds to dump it in the trash.
10:40The whole trick is making it a habit, so you do not even think of it.
10:45I would far rather spend five seconds emptying a strainer than five hours fighting a clog.
10:51Now here is the plumber's secret weapon, the thing that set his drains apart,
10:56and I will give it to you honest and plain.
11:00Once a month, right after the hot water flush, he poured an enzyme drain treatment into every drain.
11:07Now mind me, this is not the harsh chemical drain cleaner in the big plastic bottle,
11:12the caustic stuff, the lye and the acid that ruins your pipes over time.
11:18He never used those, and neither should you.
11:21The enzyme treatment is a whole different thing.
11:25It uses natural, living bacteria and enzymes that simply eat the organic buildup inside the pipe,
11:32the grease and hair and soap scum and food, breaking it down naturally over some hours.
11:38There are several good ones to be had at a plumbing supply or online, no one brand needed.
11:45The way of it, you mix a couple spoonfuls of the powder into a cup of warm, not hot water,
11:52for hot would kill the living bacteria, and you pour it down the drain right before bed
11:57so it sits and works overnight with no water running through.
12:01And by morning, those enzymes have been eating away at the buildup for eight hours.
12:07Flush first to clear the easy stuff, then the enzyme overnight to handle the rest.
12:13A fine, gentle one-two that keeps a pipe clean inside without a drop of harsh poison.
12:19Now let me tell you what to do if you notice a drain starting to slow,
12:23for even with good habits a thing may happen.
12:26Guests who were not careful, or a teenager shedding hair like a barn cat.
12:31A slow drain is your early warning, and catching it then is the whole key to never facing a full
12:38clog.
12:40First, do the hot water flush, fill it and release it all at once.
12:45If that helps, follow with the enzyme treatment, and the trouble most often clears in a day or two.
12:51If the slow drain holds on, the next move is a simple hand-crank drain snake,
12:57sometimes called a drum auger.
12:59Twenty or thirty dollars at the hardware, and worth every cent.
13:03One with a quarter-inch cable, about fifteen foot long, reaches past the trap and into the branch line where
13:10most clogs form.
13:12You feed it in slow, crank it when you feel it catch, and pull it back.
13:16And nine times in ten, you will pull out a clump of hair and scum that was choking the pipe.
13:23Then a hot water flush, and an enzyme treatment after, to clean up what the snake loosened but did not
13:29pull.
13:29Let me give you a few common drain troubles besides, and they're plain fixes, for they are good to know.
13:36If you hear a gurgling when the water drains, that is most often not a clog at all, but a
13:42venting trouble.
13:43For your drain pipes need air to flow right, and that air comes down vent pipes that run up through
13:50your roof.
13:51And if a vent is blocked by leaves or a bird's nest, you get that gurgle.
13:56Check your roof vents, if you can do it safe, or have someone able look for you.
14:02If you get a bad smell from a drain you seldom use, a guest bath or a basement floor drain,
14:09the trouble is near always a dried-out trap.
14:12That curved bit of pipe under the drain is meant to hold a little water that blocks the sewer gas
14:18from rising,
14:19and if it dries out, up comes the smell.
14:22The fix is dead simple.
14:24Pour a couple cups of water down that drain every couple of weeks to keep the trap full.
14:30If your double kitchen sink drains slow on one side only, it is most often a partial clog right at
14:38the fitting where the two basins join,
14:40and a short snake or a good hot flush clears it.
14:44If every drain in the house runs slow at once, that is a mainline trouble,
14:49and that is the one time I would say call a professional,
14:53for he can run a camera down to see if it is tree roots or a sag in the pipe
14:58or a big build-up,
14:59and trying to fix a mainline yourself can make it worse.
15:03And if you have been using the chemical cleaners regular and your drains are still slow,
15:08stop the chemicals at once, for there is a good chance they have made it worse
15:13by leaving a hardened residue that catches debris all the easier,
15:18and switch to the enzyme treatment for a month of weekly doses to dissolve that build-up.
15:24And now, the twice-a-year trick I promised,
15:28the single best thing of all, the one most folks never hear,
15:32and do not let it intimidate you, for it is among the easiest plumbing jobs there is.
15:38Twice a year, you pull every trap in the house and clean it out by hand.
15:43That trap is the curved section of pipe right under every sink,
15:48and most have slip-joint connections you can unscrew clean by hand, no tools at all.
15:54You set a small bucket beneath to catch the water,
15:58unscrew both connections, and pull the trap straight down.
16:02Then carry it outside, rinse it out with the garden hose,
16:06and wipe the inside with an old bottle brush.
16:09And you would not believe what comes out even of a well-kept home,
16:13a thin, dark sludge slowly gathering in there,
16:17for the trap is the low point where the water and everything in it slows and settles,
16:23and so it is the very place build-up first takes hold.
16:27That is just why it is the trap you clean,
16:30for catch the build-up there at its source,
16:32and it never travels on to clog the line beyond.
16:36By cleaning it out twice a year, you reset the whole thing,
16:40and never let build-up get a foothold at all.
16:44Ten minutes a sink, and no special skill to it at all.
16:48This plumber did it spring and fall,
16:50the same weekends he saw to his other seasonal upkeep,
16:54just part of the routine.
16:56And between the daily habits, the monthly flush and treatment,
17:00and this twice-a-year cleaning,
17:02he went five and forty years without a single clogged drain anywhere in his house.
17:08Now let me say the small honest word about who profits from your not knowing all this.
17:14Not to rile you up, just so you see the shape of it.
17:17There is a great trade in clogged drains, the service calls, the clearing,
17:23the replacing of pipes ruined by years of caustic cleaner,
17:27and a great shelf of that harsh chemical sold besides.
17:31And near none of it would be needed if folks kept these few plain habits.
17:35I am not saying a plumber is a crook, a man earns his pay on honest work,
17:41and a true bad clog or a mainline trouble is worth his call.
17:46But a mountain of those bills need never have been,
17:49and was earned only because nobody taught the homeowner the simple habits that would have spared him.
17:55I am not telling you a man schemed this.
17:58No one had to.
17:59It is worse than a conspiracy, because it is a system nobody had to coordinate.
18:05It simply pays better to clear and replace drains than to teach folks to keep them clear themselves.
18:11The old people kept their own everything in good order with steady small care,
18:16and so they seldom faced the great ruinous repairs,
18:19for they understood that a thing tended faithfully in small ways never falls to a large trouble.
18:26So there is the whole of it.
18:29Wipe the grease before you wash, and run hot water after.
18:33Keep the starches out of the drain.
18:35Clear the hair from your shower and your sink stopper every week, and use the liquid soap.
18:41Flush every drain with hot tap water once a month,
18:45and follow with an enzyme treatment, never the caustic poison.
18:50Use a fine mesh strainer, and empty it every time.
18:54Catch a slow drain early with a flush, an enzyme, or a snake.
18:59And twice a year, pull and clean every trap by hand.
19:04Do those, and like that plumber, you may go a lifetime and never once have a clogged drain.
19:11Now I want to hear from you, and I ask honest, because I learned the whole country from these comments.
19:17Tell me in the comments below, when did you last clog a drain,
19:22and which of these habits had you never thought to do?
19:25And tell me your county, and how old your house and pipes are,
19:29for the old pipes want more care than the new, and I like to map it by where you all
19:34write from.
19:35I read every one.
19:37Next time, I want to widen out from the drains, and show you the old Amish way of keeping a
19:43whole house in good repair.
19:44The steady, small habits and seasonal tendings that keep a home sound and spare you the great costly breakdowns,
19:52because a house, like a drain, is kept best not by fixing what is broken, but by tending it faithful
19:59so it never breaks at all.
20:01A house is kept not by the great repair when a thing falls to ruin, but by the small, faithful
20:07care that keeps it from ever falling at all.
20:11The old people knew that a few minutes of tending, given regular, was worth more than a fortune in repairs
20:17given late,
20:18and they kept their homes and their tools and their lives in good order by steady, small attention, rather than
20:25by waiting for the crash.
20:27The house tended faithfully in small things is the house that never floods its own kitchen.
20:33The people who built this country with their hands knew that, and we are only just starting to remember it.
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