Flushing drain lines

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GreekGuy7

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After rodding out a drain or even plunging it, is it best to flush the lines with cold water or hot water? I can see the benefits of each but was wondering what works best from your experience. Thanks!!
 

Doherty Plumbing

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After rodding out a drain or even plunging it, is it best to flush the lines with cold water or hot water? I can see the benefits of each but was wondering what works best from your experience. Thanks!!

Depends on what exactly you snaked out of the drain. When I'm augering and I'm breaking through something like toilet paper, roots or crud I just usually run cold water through the bathtub. This isn't really to "clean" the drain it's more to help carry away the stuff I'm breaking lose.

If you're snaking something like the black build up you find in bathroom sink lines and kitchen sink lines then I always run hot water. For grease and the like I always use hot water too.
 
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hj

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It is like the disposer in the kitchen sink. When you are grinding, you use cold water to congeal the grease and make it a solid mass for the disposer to grind up. But if it gets into the pipe and congeals, then you need hot water to "dissolve" it and make it a liquid. After snaking the line, I fill the sink with hot water and run it through the disposer to flush the line.
 
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