Are enzyme-based drain cleaners snake oil?

Motorapido

Are enzyme-based drain cleaners snake oil? Are any of them scientifically tested? Seems like many of the green, sustainable, tree-hugging hippie products are bogus snake oil. Hippies like to stick it to the man. In a quest to remove any built up grease/fat accumulation in the cast iron pipes of my 100 year old house, I would like to avoid acid-formula and base-formula chemical drain cleaners. I also don't like the idea of snaking the pipes, for fear of damaging the old cast iron, so I am considering enzyme cleaners, like Green Gobbler, but I suspect it might be snake oil. Does anybody know of scientific tests that might prove the efficacy of any particular enzyme-based product?

hot_rod

They use enzymes to clean up oil spills, mostly caused by non-hippies🤔
https://news.mit.edu/2015/using-microbes-clean-oil-spills
I’ve used and sold Bio-clean for over 30 years. Developed by a very non hippie in Wisconsin.
Try some and do your own test. We took a cut out section of a plugged restaurant drain and day later it turned the grease and food to ash like particles.

Motorapido

Good to know. I will buy some Bio-Clean. Thanks, Hot Rod.

hot_rod

I think it depends somewhat on what the blockage is made up of. Roots for example may be better dealt with using a copper product.
Or a jetter

I'm on a septic and I dose the tank with a shot of Bioclean occasionally.
Been meaning to try some in our ponds to break down that sludge from decomposing leaves. We get that swamp gas smell some years.

nicholas bonham-carter

Lye works well on grease, and seems not to harm cast iron pipes.--NBC

Jamie Hall

@hot_rod -- ponds are something else. You need to find something which breaks down the sludge -- but doesn't kill either the plants, if you have any, or the critters. I use various products from The Pond Guy (www.thepondguy.com). They don't exactly give them away... but they work.

ethicalpaul

I'm curious @Motorapido why are you opposed to base-based cleaners?

Also, do snakes hurt cast iron? Honest question

hot_rod

Jamie Hall said:

@hot_rod -- ponds are something else. You need to find something which breaks down the sludge -- but doesn't kill either the plants, if you have any, or the critters. I use various products from The Pond Guy (www.thepondguy.com). They don't exactly give them away... but they work.

Been down that road also, used killlakeweeds.com
Crazy expensive, multi chemical cocktail. And it needs to be done on an ongoing basis.
The cattle water from the pond so it is a blend supposedly safe for livestock.
We also have a bunch of grass carp, but they seem to be selective on what they eat.
Maybe the sludge is carp poop!

CantabHeat

Can’t speak specifically on any product but as a concept it sounds legit. Many modern cleaning products contain enzymes to help break down stains and other organic material. Granted this is often in scenarios where one is trying to clean something without destroying something else—like getting stains out of clothing. 

jumper

Aren't enzymes temperature specific. Isn't that why we die of hypothermia & hyperthermia?

Solid_Fuel_Man

hot_rod said:

@hot_rod -- ponds are something else. You need to find something which breaks down the sludge -- but doesn't kill either the plants, if you have any, or the critters. I use various products from The Pond Guy (www.thepondguy.com). They don't exactly give them away... but they work.

Been down that road also, used killlakeweeds.com Crazy expensive, multi chemical cocktail. And it needs to be done on an ongoing basis. The cattle water from the pond so it is a blend supposedly safe for livestock. We also have a bunch of grass carp, but they seem to be selective on what they eat. Maybe the sludge is carp poop!

Carp crap