Is Drano safe for PVC?

For all the people with more plumbing experience than me, which is probably 99% of the board – is Drano safe for PVC? I ask because I have a newer house (about eight years old) and we have PVC pipes. Somewhere there is a clog that is causing my utility tub to start filling up with water whatever the washer drains. I took off the trap on the utility tub and ran a 25 foot snake through it and didn’t encounter any thing stopping my progress. And then went down to my basement opened up the cleanout and ran the snake back upstairs no problem. I tried running the snake down from the cleanout towards outside of the house, but I did encounter something stopping my progress about 10 or 15 feet in. I made the mistake of thinking that I had fixed the problem, but when we tried running a load of laundry, the utility tub backed up with water again and now I can’t go check the cleanout because there’s too much water backed up from the first floor. That’s my reason for seeing if I can pour Drano down the PVC pipe safely. I have the nagging suspicion that it might be something like a sock from my 22-month-old daughter because they are small enough to get caught a machine sometimes, so if that changes your answer let me know.

Your fine using Drano on pvc I have done it a million times. The only thing is I don’t know if it will really work on a sock though

Drano isnt really safe for anything. It will eat through copper eventually. I had to replace a low section of old copper from a sink drain in my house. Previous owner loved Drano. The old can was still under the sink.The pipe had micro holes in it. When I touched it it crumbled.

I would imagine that ABS wouldn’t fair any better.

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HiltiWpg wrote:

Drano isnt really safe for anything. It will eat through copper eventually. I had to replace a low section of old copper from a sink drain in my house. Previous owner loved Drano. The old can was still under the sink.The pipe had micro holes in it. When I touched it it crumbled.

I would image that ABS wouldn’t fair any better.

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I agree common mistake people make is using drano on a blocked pipe that drano can not unblock, therefore the drano sits 

If its from your washer more than likely its a hair clog or something similar,Your best option is too snake it. A manual snake most likely isnt big enough since they are usually only around 1/4 diameter,you need a larger diamater snake to plow through it.  Dont use things like Drano its pretty much a waste of money. Call a plumber with a real snake and call it done,if its one of your lil ones socks in the pipe I suggest making it so that cant happen again. Drain strainer or something like that.

Fazzman wrote:

If its from your washer more than likely its a hair clog or something similar,Your best option is too snake it. A manual snake most likely isnt big enough since they are usually only around 1/4 diameter,you need a karger diamater snake to plow through it.  Dont use things like Drano its pretty much a waste of money. Call a plumber with a real snake and call it done,if its one of your lil ones socks in the pipe I suggest making it so that cant happen again. Drain strainer or something like that.

I’d rent the snake from HD before I called a plumber. I forget what the tip is called but it’s pointy, use that…it will clear ANYTHING. You’ll probably save at least $100 by doing it yourself, probably more depending on the plumber’s rates.

Yeah good idea,when we needed to snake a drain a couple months ago none of our local HD’ had them for rent sadly so we had to get a plumber out.  i never knew so much dog hair and such got on our clothes. one of our dogs is a German shepard/Husky mix,she sheds an ungodly amount of hair The stuff gets everywhere,it just sticks to you when she walks by. Have to brush her out at least a couple times a week. Also if your wifeys have crazy long hair like mine does,that stuff gets everywhere too hehe.

Judging by the amount of hair i find in my wife’s shower she should have been bald years ago! It’s amazing how much hair we shed.

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PVC is pretty chemically resistant compared to dealing with a metal pipe. If you do it occasionally your not going to hurt anything.

Fazzman wrote:

Yeah good idea,when we needed to snake a drain a couple months ago none of our local HD’ had them for rent sadly so we had to get a plumber out.  i never knew so much dog hair and such got on our clothes. one of our dogs is a German shepard/Husky mix,she sheds an ungodly amount of hair The stuff gets everywhere,it just sticks to you when she walks by. Have to brush her out at least a couple times a week. Also if your wifeys have crazy long hair like mine does,that stuff gets everywhere too hehe.

I have a beagle(sheds like crazy) and I’m half spanish so I have thick hair and I have a full beard…I have to snake my drains about once a year, haha.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I did try using Drano that night and it didn’t do anything. I ended up having to have a professional come out and he was able to get it unclogged in fairly short order. Going forward we are going to be putting a lot less down the garbage disposal as that tied into the same pipe and was probably the culprit. I’ll also be putting on a lint filter on the washing machine drain tube. Thanks again for all the feedback!