Hi
I’ve been cleaning the hood drain pipes with a length of flexible curtain hanging thing.
I do have one of the trombone cleaners with brush at either end, however, it
looked quite a large total diameter, and I didn’t want to force things , and result in damage
to the flaps at the lower end of the pipes.
So I used the curtain hanger. I’ve noticed that this is a definite push down through what
is the flap area, and am still rather wary about now using the trombone cleaner.
Is there any kind of liquid/solution that, if I blocked the bottom of the pipes, I could pour in
and loosen things up/crud ?
Or is quite a narrow fit just the way it is ?
Hi, Yes the trombone cleaner is quite a tight fit, but should work through with patience and gentle persistence. If you keep the drain tubes soaked with water for a while before you have another attempt, this should soften the crud, and help it push through. Your curtain wire will have helped break up the blockage anyway. Make sure that when you use the trombone brush you pass it all the way down through the tube, and remove it from the bottom. If you push it through then pull it back up again, there’s an internal flap (to seal against noise and water ingress from below) that you might damage or flip. I wouldn’t recommend using any caustic drain-clearing type stuff, if that’s what you had in mind - no telling what it may do to the drainage tube.
HTH Steve