Is Liquid Soap Blocking Your Bathroom Sink?

Bathroom sinks can be a little more reliable than kitchen sinks in terms of blockages. They don't have to deal with food grease and waste. However, bathroom sinks and drains can still block if something goes down them that doesn't wash away.

Sometimes, these sinks block for unexpected reasons. For example, if you use liquid soap to wash your hands in the bathroom, then this soap can occasionally cause problems. So, is your sink blocked by liquid soap and can you clear the blockage yourself?

How Liquid Soap Blocks Drains

Soap isn't an obvious sink blocking culprit. However, if you put enough soap down a sink drain over a long period of time, then it can create a blockage. Liquid soap is sometimes more of an issue than bars of soap. When you use liquid soap, you tend to squirt out more soap than you actually need to wash your hands. You may also end up putting pure rather than diluted soap down the drain accidentally. The soap may fall off the dispenser into the sink or slip off your hands while you're washing them.

While occasional blobs of soap won't create blockages, this is more of a problem if you use liquid soap a lot. For example, if your family has one bathroom and you, your partner and your kids all use liquid soap regularly throughout the day, then your sink may take a beating.

If soap collects in the sink's pipe, trap or drains, then it can collect together into a blockage. This problem gets worse when other stuff goes down the sink like hair or shaving stubble. Other stuff will stick to a clump of soap turning it into a more immovable object.

How to Clear a Liquid Soap Blockage

You may be able to clear a basic liquid soap blockage by just running hot water through the drain. If you're lucky, this will melt the soap back into a liquid state that washes away through the system. If this doesn't work, then putting some baking soda down the plug hole followed by vinegar may fizz the blockage into pieces. Follow this up by running hot water down the sink.

If your sink stays blocked or won't go back to its normal drainage speed, then you need help from a plumber. Your plumber can address blocked drains and get your sink working again as quickly as possible.