Drain cleaner makes the buildup worse.

Your drain seems fine. Water goes down, nothing smells, no reason to think about it. Inside the pipe is a different story. A slow accumulation of soap, oil, food, and bacteria has been quietly coating the walls for years, and the thing most people pour down to fix it is exactly what holds it all in place. Chemical drain cleaners leave a residue along the inside of the pipe, and everything that washes down after grips onto that residue instead of slipping through. This fortnight, Oskar tackles a drain with micro-dry steam. The buildup comes out, and nothing’s left behind to start a new one.

Don’t wait until the warning signs

A drain only announces itself when it’s already in trouble. Until then, it’s on you to assume something is going on in there. Steam it for thirty seconds once a month and the slow build never gets the chance to become a problem.

Watch the episode on YouTube