new soap and clogged drains!!!

[brandnew]

HELP!! though it may seem silly I used a small slice of new soap after just 2 1/2 weeks (I know impatience!) and the drains started clogging up! I'm afraid even after it cures the oil content will affect the drains! Has anyone else had this problem? will the curing cure the problem? sorry about the pun

 

[judymoody]

Hi and welcome!

I suspect that a small bit of soap is not what's affecting your drains. We've been using nothing but CP soap in our house for the better part of two years and no worries.

 

[Genny]

Unless your entire bar slid down the drain, I don't think that's what caused the clog.

I've been soaping for years & always use a small piece of each batch after a week (as long as there's no zap), just to see if it feels okay so far. I've never had a problem with it clogging the drain.

 

[JessicaDIY]

I can relate - I started using CP soap about 6 months ago and experienced what we're now affectionately calling the Plumbing Fiasco of 2011 in December. It was a combination of problems for me -

Is your house or plumbing older? Mine is from the '40s with some original plumbing, so we're talking cast iron. Cast iron that has had 70+ years for crud to accumulate, which makes the interior surface of the pipes rough. The oils in CP soap (instead of detergents in many commercial soaps) really love to cling to the rough crud on the inside of old pipes, then it just becomes a cascade of more and more accumulation.

After the plumbers were called out, I became more proactive - I use a fine mesh screen over my drain, which collects a surprising amount of soapy buildup. Additionally (I read this online somewhere), I squirt about 1/4 cup of the original blue Dawn down the drain every week or so, the logic being that it helps strip away some of that soapy/oily buildup.

Worth it for good soap? Totally.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome Jessica!

That totaly makes sense about the pipe material (I looked it up out of curiosity and you are absolutely right about cast iron plumbing). Thanks for your helpful tips!

IrishLass

 

[honor435]

I have an old house, bult in 1925, never had drain clog, been soaping for 4 or 5 ys.

 

[jax1962]

couldn't you just tip some cautic soda crystals and hot water down the drain to clear it?? this is the advice i was given and i've done it a few times after i've handwashed soaping items straight away - i've not yet had a clogged drain and we live in a house built in the 1800's (touches wood and crosses fingers).

 

[carebear]

some older pipes don't like lye... be very careful with that idea.

 

[JessicaDIY]

Welcome Jessica!

That totaly makes sense about the pipe material (I looked it up out of curiosity and you are absolutely right about cast iron plumbing). Thanks for your helpful tips!

IrishLass

Thanks for the welcome!


I suspect hard water (of which I most certainly have) may also be a precipitating factor with mineral buildup clinging to soap residue which clings to mineral buildup and so on...

some older pipes don't like lye... be very careful with that idea.

Yep. Lye and its ability to cause a rapid temperature increase can actually crack old pipes right in two.

 

[LadyM]

I've also used fresh soap again and again over 13 years in my place and have never had a problem.

 

[Genny]

I have also heard (not sure where, maybe I am wrong) but lye is no good for septic.

Large amounts of lye and/or bleach are not good for septic tanks because it destroys the anaerobic bacteria which break down solid waste.

If you have a septic system & make cp soap, he says that when you're cleaning your tools & stuff, wait until the batter's hardened & saponified, then wash them out. Otherwise you're basically just dumpint the lye down the drain.

 

[zeoplum]

I have a septic tank and do not have the luxury of leaving my pots and stuff out (5 year old and also a cat) so I make a healthy investment in paper towels. I wipe everything down really good so the trace amounts left on my equipment are small enough that I'm sure they don't cause any problems. I'm already use to having to wipe everything out since you cannot have a garbage disposal when you have a septic tank.

 

[brandnew]

new soap and clogged drains

thank you for all the replies! The downstairs bathroom drains are fine so perhaps it was a pre panic...the drains are new but the building Specs in France aren't the lost logical I find. An incline of ONE cm per meter!?!?! plus the water here is SO hard that could be a contributing factor. Will take the paper towel advice. I dump the liquid elsewhere but have been rinsing the utensils in the sink!! duh? Thank you all for your helpful advice...can't give up now!!! It's too addictive

 

[jax1962]

i've now tried leaving the stuff overnight at least and it DOES make a great difference, the gunk just rinses away even with cold water so it must be better for the plumbing.

btw brandnew, i know what you mean about the h-a-r-d water :roll: i think we go through about 3 kettles per year!

 

[brandnew]

tallow

hi jax,
can you use suet for 'tallow' recipes and use the same no° on the SAP chart?

 

[jax1962]

i don't know - i have 2 packs of atora from a friend in my cupboards that i'll never use for cooking but not sure if they are technically tallow?! maybe someone on here could advice?

i've only used lard (which is 'saindoux' and sold usually beside the charcuterie and not the oils/fats section of the supermarket).

what are you making?

 

[ericllucas]

Hi Brandnew - suet implies that you have beef fat in chunks, cut away from the bone or skin or meat or whatever. Like most parts of the body, suet has entrained water. I melt down suet at a low temperature to melt out the fat and separate it from any connective tissue. Then, let it cool. You'll find a layer of water at the bottom and a disk of hardened fat at the top. That disk is tallow you can use to make soap. The tallow yield from cooking down suet is something like 50% to 60%, which means if you cook down five pounds of suet, you should get something like 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of tallow. Hope this helps. Also, you may want to create a new topic for your questions, instead of attaching them to some other topic.

 

[Ronald Ivy]

If you are facing this problem at regular interval of time, then I would advise you to better go with professional plumbers help to get it solved fast before it leads to severe damage.

 

[shunt2011]

If you are facing this problem at regular interval of time, then I would advise you to better go with professional plumbers help to get it solved fast before it leads to severe damage. Trenchless sewer repairs NJ team is one of the licensed plumber who provide all the plumbing services along with the sewer and drain treatment too. You can contact them anytime if you came across some severe clogged drain problem.

This post is 6 years old. Probably not likely to get a response as the OP hasn’t been here in a long time nor the majority of other posters.