Water taking forever to drain, or sitting in the basin? Most single-fixture clogs resolve in under 10 minutes with a plunger or a baking soda flush. This guide walks you through it — and shows you when to stop and call us instead.
Estimated time to work through: ~10 minutes
NEVER use Drano, Liquid-Plumr, or any chemical drain cleaner.
They corrode metal pipes, soften PVC, and can splash back as hot caustic liquid that causes severe chemical burns. They also make any follow-up plunger work or P-trap cleaning hazardous. Most Sea Dog leases prohibit them. Use a plunger, baking soda + vinegar, or submit a maintenance request instead.
Multiple drains slow at the same time? Stop and submit a maintenance request.
If two or more fixtures (sink + tub, or toilet + shower) are slow simultaneously, or a toilet gurgles when a sink drains, that's not a single-fixture clog — it's a main sewer line or vent stack problem. Don't keep running water. This is a maintenance call, not a DIY.
Never mix cleaning chemicals.
Bleach + vinegar releases chlorine gas. Bleach + ammonia releases chloramine gas. Stick to plain water, plain baking soda, and plain vinegar.
Drain problems split cleanly into two categories. Single-fixture clogs are local — hair and soap in a bathroom drain, food and grease in a kitchen sink, or something physical lodged in the P-trap. You can usually clear these yourself in 10 minutes. Main sewer line problems are different — they affect multiple fixtures at once, cause gurgling sounds, or push sewage back into unexpected places. Those require professional equipment and almost always a maintenance request. The most important diagnostic step you can take is figuring out which one you have.
Run water in other sinks, the tub, the shower, and flush a toilet. If everything else drains normally, you have a single-fixture clog and can continue. If others are also slow — stop here and submit a maintenance request (Section 6).
Put on dish gloves. Pull out the pop-up stopper or drain strainer. Use a bent paperclip or a hair-catching tool to pull out the hair-and-soap clog that's almost always sitting in the first inch or two of the drain.
Pour ½ cup baking soda into the drain. Follow with 1 cup of white vinegar. Cover the drain immediately (a rag or a stopper) to keep the fizz contained. Wait 15 minutes. Flush with hot tap water (kitchen sinks: boiling water is OK on metal pipes; bathroom sinks with PVC: stick to hot tap).
A cup-style plunger is the right tool for sinks, tubs, and showers (the toilet plunger is different — flange shape). For a sink, cover the overflow hole with a wet rag (the round opening near the top of the basin) to maintain suction. Fill the basin with enough water to cover the plunger cup. Plunge with firm vertical strokes without breaking the seal. 20–30 strokes is enough to clear most clogs.
What you'll need
For under-sink drains only. The P-trap is the U-shaped pipe under the sink that holds water and catches debris.
What you'll need
Stop here if… you can't reseat the slip nuts without leaks — snug everything back hand-tight and submit a request.
After Steps 3, 4, or 5, run water briefly to test. If drain is fast, you're done. If still slow, repeat once.
If the drain is still slow after two cycles of the above, it's likely past the P-trap — into a vent or branch line. Submit through the tenant portal with notes on what you tried.
Most kitchen clogs are grease, food, or coffee grounds in the P-trap. If you have a garbage disposal, run it with cold water for 30 seconds first — sometimes the clog is in the disposal, not the drain (see our Garbage Disposal guide). For grease, boiling water on metal pipes can break up the clog; for PVC, stick to hot tap. Skip the disposal-pumped boiling-water trick — it can damage the seal.
The pop-up stopper traps almost all bathroom-sink clogs. Lift it out (most twist or pull straight up) and you'll likely find a tangled hair-and-soap clog right there. Clean it and reinstall. Block the overflow hole when plunging. PVC trap — no boiling water.
Hair is the universal cause. Most tub drains have a removable cover (lift or unscrew). Once it's off, you'll usually see hair right at the surface — use needle-nose pliers or a hair-catching tool. Don't pour anything corrosive down a tub drain; the rubber seals are sensitive. If the drain still won't clear after hair removal + baking soda flush, submit a request.
Multiple slow drains at the same time is a main-line or vent-stack problem.
Signs include:
Stop using all drains in the home and submit an emergency maintenance request. Running more water makes the backup worse. Florida sewer lines are commonly affected by root intrusion, especially after storms — this requires professional equipment (snake, hydro-jet, or camera) we'll send a vendor to handle.
Submit a request when any of these apply:
Many Central Florida homes have older clay or cast-iron lateral lines that crack and admit ficus, oak, and palm roots. A drain that's been getting slowly worse over weeks is often a root intrusion problem, not a fixture clog. Persistent slowness across multiple fixtures is the tell. Submit a request and we'll send a vendor.
Heavy rain and hurricane flooding can overwhelm municipal sewer systems. When that happens, sewage can push back into ground-floor fixtures. If a drain starts misbehaving the day after a major storm — and especially if you smell sewage — stop using water and submit a request.
Drain strainers / hair catchers in every shower and bathroom sink. The single best preventative habit.
No grease, oil, coffee grounds, rice, pasta, eggshells, or fibrous vegetables down the kitchen sink. See our Garbage Disposal guide for what to keep out of disposals.
Run hot water for 30 seconds after every kitchen-sink use to flush residual oils before they harden in the trap.
Monthly baking soda + vinegar maintenance flush on bathroom sinks. ½ cup baking soda + 1 cup vinegar + hot water rinse.
Never flush wipes. "Flushable" is marketing, not engineering. Wipes are the leading cause of main-line clogs.
Report slow drains early. A small slowdown today is a five-minute fix; the same issue in three weeks is often a main-line emergency.
Browse all troubleshooting guides
Self-help guides for tenants, by Sea Dog.
Sea Dog's guides are grounded in authoritative trade sources. For drain troubleshooting we draw on Roto-Rooter, This Old House, Family Handyman, Bob Vila, and the EPA's WaterSense program.
This guide is educational and does not modify your lease. It is not professional plumbing advice. If a step does not resolve your issue, or if you have any safety concern, stop and submit a maintenance request through the tenant portal or contact Sea Dog at the tenant maintenance line. In any conflict between this guide and your signed lease or applicable Florida law (Florida Statutes Chapter 83), your lease and Florida law control.