Cha-cha-cha-chia! Cha-cha-cha chia drain!

August 6, 2023 11:09 AM

Every morning I have some chia seeds in my breakfast, then brush my teeth. Chia seeds being the way they are, this means some seeds go down my bathroom drain. Lately -- despite this being my regular breakfast for ages -- they have started to sprout. I don't like this. How do I stop it?

Maybe once a week one sprout will poke out of the drain. I'm concerned that there might be more growing in there and eventually a chia tree will block the drain.

posted by The corpse in the library to Home & Garden (19 answers total)

Swish and swallow water before you brush so there aren’t any seeds?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:14 AM on August 6, 2023

You could empty the trap, maybe.
posted by pipeski at 11:15 AM on August 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

Spit somewhere that isn’t the drain? At least the first couple of spits until you are sure you’ve got them all out.
posted by fancyoats at 11:18 AM on August 6, 2023

You could also try a mini sink plunger every couple of days and see of that created enough force to wash the seed fully down the drain
posted by CleverClover at 11:31 AM on August 6, 2023

Another alternative is to lightly toast your chia seeds so that they are not viable. But this might reduce their nutritional value (omega-3's are pretty fragile).
posted by heatherlogan at 11:31 AM on August 6, 2023

Get a little sink strainer thing to catch the seeds before they go down the drain. There are many models available.
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:37 AM on August 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

Clean out the trap. It's probable that the reason you have a problem now, and didn't before, is you have a build up of gunk in there that is trapping the seeds so they aren't flushed down. In the future, run a little more water after you spit to help move things through the trap.
posted by ssg at 11:46 AM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Historically, when I've done something simple like taking apart the trap to clean it it's turned into a cascading series of events that ends with a plumber / electrician / EMT getting involved. Cleaning the trap makes sense, but do we think baking soda and vinegar will be enough, or do I need to actually take it apart and scrub it?
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:16 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

There will probably be a layer goop coating the pipe. The trap is generally held on with a couple big nuts and will contain water so have a bucket under before loosening.

You could try using a long bottle brush to give it a cleaning from above. Have the water running while you are using it.
posted by Mitheral at 12:26 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Chia does not grow into a tree; it is a cute little member of the mint family. The worst that is going to happen as a result of the occasional seed sprouting in your drain is that the rotting seedling might smell a little. There is no reason to disassemble your drain.
posted by heatherlogan at 12:27 PM on August 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

I would get a sink shroom or similar so that they get caught well before they get down as far as the trap.
posted by potrzebie at 1:13 PM on August 6, 2023

Baking soda plus vinegar does very little (it makes some bubbles, but those don't do much, and otherwise they neutralize each other, making them both less effective cleaners). If you don't want to physically clean out the trap, then you are better off with just nice hot water or vinegar alone.

That's said, it's usually pretty easy to remove the trap or open the cleanout (some traps have something you can unscrew on the bottom for access).
posted by ssg at 2:05 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Floss first

Baking soda plus vinegar does very little (it makes some bubbles, but those don't do much, and otherwise they neutralize each other, making them both less effective cleaners).

The idea with the combination is that you cover the drain after you pour the two in and then the gas produced by the reaction has to go somewhere, and can potentially loosen some buildup it its efforts to do so. So you could try that too.

Any chance you could avoid using that drain for a day or two or however long it takes to dry out and thus probably kill the chia babies? (Which sound very cute, though admittedly undesirable.)
posted by trig at 2:24 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Spit into the toilet.
posted by Jane the Brown at 2:36 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

By eating chia seeds for breakfast, you are putting many, many more viable seeds into your plumbing than come back out of your mouth when you brush your teeth.

So your only real concern is the short stretch of drain before the sink drain joins the main sewer pipe, and any kind of conventional cleaner such as Drano is more than a match for a few impudently sprouting chia seeds.
posted by jamjam at 2:49 PM on August 6, 2023

Pour some boiling water down the drain. It will kill the sprouts and loosen any gunk.
posted by ananci at 3:48 PM on August 6, 2023 [7 favorites]

Dawn platinum will help degudge the inside of your pipes so there won’t be such productive soil in there
posted by toodleydoodley at 10:30 PM on August 6, 2023

Best answer: My guess is seeds are getting caught in hair (or something) trapped by the stopper mechanism, rather than down in the trap.

The stopper is easier to release and clean than the trap, but it may still be more than you were hoping to do.

Good luck getting rid of your indoor garden!
posted by bruinfan at 2:11 PM on August 7, 2023

Response by poster: Update: it was the stopper mechanism. I will spare you the details. The chia saplings have moved on to the next stage of the life cycle.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:59 AM on September 28, 2023 [1 favorite]