Blocked Kitchen Sinks in Edinburgh
Kitchen sink backing up? It's almost always fat and food waste.
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In short: Need help with blocked kitchen sinks in Edinburgh? Network Drains covers the whole of Edinburgh and Lothian, including Balerno, Bruntsfield, Colinton, Corstorphine, Currie, Fairmilehead, Granton, Juniper Green, Kirkliston, Leith, Morningside, Niddrie, Portobello, Sighthill and South Queensferry. You speak directly to the engineer, the likely cost is discussed before we attend, and we explain what caused the problem. Call or WhatsApp 07455 859451.
Kitchen sinks block for a very consistent reason: fat, oil and food waste cool and harden inside the pipe, narrowing it a little more every time you wash up, until eventually nothing gets through. Shop-bought drain unblockers rarely shift it properly and can make a proper clear harder.
We clear the blockage mechanically rather than relying on chemicals, so the pipe is genuinely open again rather than just temporarily softened.
Kitchen wastes in tenement flats often feed a shared stack, so one flat's fat and food waste can cause trouble for neighbours. We clear the waste and the shared section, and explain what keeps it clear.
Signs you need this
- Water draining very slowly from the kitchen sink
- A bad smell coming from the plughole
- Water backing up into a second sink or the dishwasher outlet
- Gurgling when the washing machine empties
How we handle it
- 1 Check whether it's the sink trap, the waste run, or further down
- 2 Clear with rods, an auger or jetting depending on severity
- 3 Advice on keeping fat and food waste out of the drain going forward
Questions people ask
Should I use a chemical drain unblocker first?
We'd generally say don't — it rarely clears a proper fat blockage fully, and it makes the job messier and slower for whoever clears it after, including us.
Can this happen again after you've cleared it?
It can, if fat keeps going down the drain. Scraping pans into the bin rather than the sink is the single biggest thing that prevents it recurring.