Drain cleaners are relatively as basic as it comes, why is that advantageous over something extremely acidic when those type things are famous for melting away organic material?
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A lot of drain cleaners are concentrated Sulphuric acid, so are in fact very acidic.
That said, many are Sodium Hydroxide (lye/caustic soda) because it’s a strong base (alkali) which is very effective at two things:
– saponification (turning fats and oils into soapy substances which are soluble in water)
– dissolving keratin (the stuff your hair is made of)
That deals very handily with two of the most common causes of blockages, things which frequently end up going down the drain and are otherwise very hard to remove: hair and grease.
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They are made to solve grease. Even low level basics solve grease while you need a high level acid to do the same. The problem is that high level acids solve a lot of other things to.
They can be either, which is why they can’t be mixed and for the love of God if you hire a plumber so he knows there’s caustic liquid in the drain.
Acids are better at sludge and slime, alkali are better for hair and food clogs. Neither of them are good for your plumbing and rarely work very well.
I’d add that if your pipes have a problem with calcium chloride build up, bases arent gonna do anything, but acids (even weak) are the solution
Edit: sorry meant to say calcium carbonate
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