ComStar Pure Lye 2 lb - Unique Sodium Hydroxide Beads | Drain Opener & Soap Making | Biodegradable, Eco-Friendly (30-504)

Cleared the drain when no other drain cleaner I tried would, including expensive professional drain clers. This saved me frk having to rent a plumber's snake!

I was amazed how this product worked on my slow moving bathtub/shower drain! I had tried snaking it, plunging it, liquid drain cleaner...nothing helped until this. I watched the videos people posted and thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. Ran hot water for a minute, waited 10 minutes, poured 1/4 cup directly into the drain, added more hot water, saw 1 bubble (burp) waited, repeat ran hot water 1 minute, 10 minutes later added the beads, little more hot water...finally drain opened up completely. Will use as a monthly maintenance to keep functioning.

I have four bathroom vanities, one kitchen sink (open drian and garbage disposal sides) as well as a utility sink. In addition to multiple shower drains, a soaker tub drain and a jetted garden tub drain. It's easy to see that with all of these drains, something will eventually need your attention. Sink drains provide relatively easy access to the trap and with a modest amount of effort they can be cleaned out manually. If however the clogg goes far beyond the trap the repair gets a little more intense. Of course shower and tub drains typically don't have easy access to their drain plumbing. This is the answer for these scenarios. Not only will it open up the drains, it will do so quickly and as an added benefit it will help to keep things downstream from clogging in the first place. I have also found that it works well in laundry drains where soap scum and fabric softener buildup can become problematic. It can be used preventatively in utility drains such as HVAC A Coil condensate drains. Who wants to find their AC system shutting down because the condensate tray is backing up? Or worse yet, find out that the system didn't shut down but instead overflowed onto your carpet, hardwood or even worse, into your ceiling if the unit is upstairs or attic located. This stuff works well for opening clogged drains quickly and preventing clogs when used as a maintenance aid. I typically by this in either the large container or in two packs as I want to have it on hand when needed. I also restock quickly when low.

This pure sodium hydroxide is exactly what I needed for making soap. The beads dissolve quickly and consistently. 99% purity ensures reliable results every time. The container is well-sealed and includes proper safety warnings. Works great for drain cleaning too when used properly. Much better quality than what you find in stores. Excellent product for soap making enthusiasts!

I didn't get the benefit of hearing a "whoosh" or anything so incredible when I used this on my bathroom sink drain, which is about a century old, which has been getting backfilled with stagnant water when I leave the sink on for more than 5 seconds. After first trying a drum auger I found with no luck, I decided lye might be the solution and used it as part of a trifecta of clog removal solutions. The clog was very obviously deep in my wall instead of being immediately accessible and I'm just a typical 30-year-old with no knowledge of plumbing really... For me, there was no explosion or craziness, but I did don a mask and a full-length coat just in case something crazy did happen (and you should as well if you buy this). After the first pass through with the lye, I didn't notice any change, so I decided to do it again, this time mixing it in a plastic container with the hot water in advance and then pouring it down the drain all together (Do not do this unless you have the gloves and the protective glasses!) and letting it sit for a few hours. When I poured hot water into the sink after letting the lye sit for about 6 hours, it immediately backfilled and I was really bummed out, but I decided to actually *boil* some hot water and pass that through the pipes. A lot of people say not to do this if your sink has a PVC pipe in it but I passed about 10 quarts total of boiling water and started seeing a bit of an improvement at that point. I finished everything up by allowing the sink to fill some and using a plunger on the drain. At this point, all sorts of disgusting black stuff was coming up... but the sink finally returned to a somewhat functional state. I'm sure this clog pre-dated me living in my house and unclogging it felt like a serious effort. In retrospect, I would have probably just paid for a plumber to come out because it ended up eating my entire Sunday. On the other hand, I would recommend the lye as a PREVENTATIVE maintenance tool for stubborn and clog-prone sinks. Personally, I think the plunger technique was the most effective, but this lye definitely jumpstarted the process. I'm guessing if you don't live in a super old house, this stuff will do the job much more easily... in which case, you should buy this instead of Drano because it's way cheaper, but you should also try not to be a Darwin Award winner and maintain a healthy fear of lye, because the stuff is really dangerous to play around with if you're not taking all the precautions.

This stuff works like magic!

Works great when instructions are followed.

Let me first state that you need to follow all safety precautions when using this product. Gloves, Eye protection etc. I had an issue that has been ongoing for years - the washing machine would drain and water would back-fill into the kitchen sink then slowly drain out ok. Over the years I had plumbers come and snake the line from the kitchen and this would either solve the problem for a while or just not even work very well. Snaking does not get rid of anything, it just moves the gunk around. My house is 50 years old and I assume the pipes were filled with grease and lint combo that had gotten to a point where the pipes should have been replaced. I tried everything over the last few months. All the liquid plumbers, worthless enzymes etc etc. Literally wasted a few hundred dollars on all that. Nothing worked. The problem got so bad that water was now backing up into the washer drain pipe as well. I had to stand next to the washer during the drain cycle and stop the draining then start it again. I was almost ready to give up. I kept searching on Amazon and this Lye stuff showed up in the search result. I never heard of it before. I bought two of these and will now explain what my procedure was: Put on gloves and eye protection. Put about half of one container into a bucket. Added about 6 cups of cold water. Used old wooden chop sticks to slowly mix it. It will get really warm. Poured it slowly into the KITCHEN sink. Did the same thing again with the rest of container one and poured it into the WASHER drain pipe. I did not allow any water after that to get into the pipes for the whole night. I pre-poured water into buckets for washing hands and even late night pee runs were done in a bucket pre filled with water. I did this process for two nights in a row using both containers of this lye I bought. The next day I filled the kitchen sink with VERY hot water and dish soap. Let it drain. This was done each day so a total of twice. The problem stated has been completely solved. I can run the washing on full load and run the kitchen faucet at the same time as the washer drain cycle and there was no back-up of water. UNBELIEVABLE!! This was my last chance, if this didn't work then I would probably spend thousands to just have those outgoing pipes replaced. Thanks to the people who make this product.