I’ve got a clogged sink, and have been reading the labels on a bunch of different products lately. I’d always assumed that they were a strong acid of sorts, which would dissolve whatever sort of material was built up in the pipes. But I’ve noticed that a lot of these products specify that they’re non-corrosive, so I’m not sure what other sort of mechanism may be at play here.
I unblocked a toilet with concentrated lye once, it turned the shit into black soup and was generally quite terrifying. I’m glad it didn’t dissolve the plumbing because I don’t think I could have handled the devastation. Anyway my point is they’re not made from acid, though I’ve used that on horrendous limescale.
Lye is the bomb. I keep loads of it around for making soap and other uses. You were all good, it won’t dissolve the plumbing.
I used to make a lot of soap! But hobby storage creep, I don’t know, I had to get rid of everything.