Sani Sticks Review: What You Need to Know

Everyone who has indoor plumbing will occasionally run into drain problems including hair and grease clogs and foul rain odors. The products in this Sani Sticks review are all designed to help the homeowner handle these problems and prevent future occurrences.

Drain clogs always occur at the least convenient time: often when company is coming or have already arrived. Preventing the problems of plugged drains and drain odors is the ideal way to handle these problems, avoid embarrassment, and minimize expensive calls to the plumber.

The products in this Sani Sticks review all enable the homeowner to tackle and prevent clogging problems in kitchen and bathroom sinks and shower and tub drains without the use of harsh chemicals.

PRODUCT COMPARISON TABLE

What Are Sani Sticks?

Sani Sticks are a product designed to tackle the common issues of drain clogs and drain odors through the simple process of placing a Sani Stick in each drain once a month. Their primary aim is the prevention of the build-up that eventually becomes an impossible clog. They may help reduce clogs that have begun to form. This Sani Sticks Review will explore this simple but unique product and compare it to other solutions in the market.

Product Specs

Sani Sticks are cylindrical sticks a little over six inches long and about the diameter of a pipe cleaner. Sani Sticks are designed to eliminate drain odors and reduce and prevent organic clogs such as grease and hair. They are made of a blend of powerful enzymes which attack organic deposits in drains.

Sani Sticks will last about one month in a drain before the insertion should be repeated. They are safe for all types of plumbing and septic systems. Sani Sticks work by resting in the pipe-trap, where they slowly release enzymes to break down the organic materials in the pipe.

How Sani Sticks Drain Cleaner and Deodorizer Compares

We picked a few similar products available on the market to see how they compare

• Green Gobbler BIO-Flow Drain Strips
• FlexiSnake Drain Weasel Sink Snake
• Vastar Drain Snake
• Sani-Sticks Drain Cleaner and Deodorizer

Sani-Sticks Drain Cleaner and Deodorizer

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Ease of Use 

This is definitely one of this product’s strengths. You simply remove a stick from the package and slip it into the drain. Some users have had trouble getting them through small holes in a drain cover. Sani Sticks are about the same thickness as a pipe cleaner, so a possible test before purchasing would be to decide if a pipe cleaner would fit through the holes in the drain grate you want to use these sticks in.

Effectiveness 

Its deodorizing ability gets very high praise from users, most of whom report quick and often immediate improvement of foul odors.

The negative reports about this product are primarily from people whose expectations for what a product like this could accomplish were unrealistically high. This product’s niche is in preventing build-up or helping to clean build up that hasn’t yet reached the point of obstruction. Expecting a product that slips into the drain once a month at a cost of pennies a day to accomplish what otherwise might require a professional plumber with power operated snaking equipment isn’t fair to an otherwise highly effective product.

Design Quality

It is conveniently packaged in a quantity that will last quite a while, depending on the number of drains in your home. It comes in an easy to handle stick design. Its enzyme formulation is a safe, chemical-free product. Odor elimination is an important part of what this product does. It is available in a selection of fresh-smelling scents as well as in a scentless option.

Green Gobbler BIO-Flow Drain Strips

Green Gobbler BIO-Flow Drain Strips are a product quite similar to the main product of our Sani Sticks review. These strips slip into drain pipes and slowly release their formula of slow-dissolving bacteria and enzymes into the drain pipe. Recommended use for this product is once a month in kitchen and bathroom drains. Its formula is designed to digest grease, oil, scum and lodged food particles. It is safe for use in homes with septic systems for sewage handling.

Ease of Use

This product has a slightly different shape than the Sani Sticks, but it is used in just the same way. The strips are inserted into the drain and will last about a month, releasing their enzyme formula throughout that time.

Effectiveness 

These strips are part of an extensive line of highly rated drain cleaning products. The job of these strips is to handle drain odors, first by eliminating foul odors, and then, over time, preventing their recurrence. This product also functions to help clean drain pipes and prevent serious buildups. People who are disappointed in this product seem to be expecting it to clear major clogs; a problem well beyond its job description.

Design Quality 

It comes in a compact package and is well-designed to easily fit into drains. It can be inserted through most drain strainers.

​Where to Buy

Vastar Drain Snake

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This Vastar Drain Snake Drain Unclogger pack contains five plastic drain snake tools and one stainless steel drain cleaner. The plastic drain snakes have multiple sharp teeth to snag hair, food and other drain blockages. The stainless steel tool is used to help move solid obstructions.

These flexible drain cleaning tools are designed for the kitchen and bathroom pipes that tend to get clogged often with organic material such as grease and hair. The stainless steel tool is a flexible, bendable, spring-loaded cable.

It has a handle with a comfortable grip, a heavy duty steel spring, and a retractable claw on the bottom. The grabber feature enables this tool to access narrow, bent places in the pipes and get hold of small objects or clogs obstructing the pipe.

Ease of Use

These tools are relatively easy to use, but compared to the Sani Sticks and Green Gobbler Strips in this Sani Sticks review, there is more work involved in using these devices. Depending on the condition of the drain, it may take a number of times running the snakes down the pipe to pull out the hair, soap scum and food waste that may have accumulated

Effectiveness 

This tool definitely fills a different role from the Sani Sticks and Green Gobbler Strips in this Sani Sticks review. Those products are designed for prevention. The Vastar Drain Snakes tackle the problem of clogging as it builds up. Serious clogs may be beyond the range of this product, but frequent use will be an effective way to avoid serious clogging in the future.

Design Quality 

It stores conveniently in cupboards or under kitchen or bathroom sinks. The sharp teeth on the ABS snakes give these tools the ability to penetrate hair clogs and bring hair up and out of the drain. The stainless steel snake has a claw that can tackle solid obstruction in the pipes.

FlexiSnake Drain Weasel Sink Snake/Hair Clog Tool

The FlexiSnake Drain Weasel Sink Snake set is a drain clog remover kit. It includes a rotating handle and five micro-hook refill wands. The wands are thin, flexible and easy to use. They slip easily down most drains and through most drain grates.

Ease of Use

The concept is simple enough, but how easy the job is will depend on how serious a clog you have. This snake tool works on a smaller scale, like the power snakes that plumbers use to tackle serious clogs. The user attaches the handle to one of the wands and then inserts the wand into the clogged pipe, rotates the handle, and removes the clog.

Effectiveness 

How effective this tool is depends to some extent on the motivation of the user. Serious clogs will take some effort, but this tool can work through many hair, grease and food waste clogs.

Design Quality 

It has a unique design concept with a sturdy handle with a molded plastic sleeve that attaches securely to the micro-hook wands. The wands are disposable, although some users report being able to use them more than once. The handle gives the tool 360 degrees rotation.

Conclusion of the Sani Sticks Review

Here’s what we found during our review of Sani Sticks:

Prevention

This Sani Sticks review features a range of practical products that address problems faced by almost everyone at some time. The Sani Sticks and the Green Gobbler Strips are similar products that deodorize drains and help dissolve organic materials of hair, grease and food waste. They do a good job at those tasks and have gotten bad raps from people who have expected these preventive products to replace serious plumbing tools or even a professional plumber.

Both products get rave reviews from users who have tackled foul drain odors and been impressed with quick and sometimes even immediate results. Both products are formulated with enzymes that work by attacking the organic matter in the drain. Neither product will work on non-organic materials, and both are aimed at prevention: they will not break up an existing clog.

Attacking the Problem

The Vastar Drain Snake and the FlexiSnake Drain Weasel are both affordable, basic plumbing tools any homeowner can keep on hand to use when drain clogs are forming. They can be used to prevent bigger clogs from forming or to tackle serious clogging. How well they work will depend on the location of the clog and the persistence of the snake operator.

These are somewhat lightweight tools, but they still can be very effective. Like the Sani Sticks and Green Gobbler strips, these products suffer from unrealistic expectations and receive criticism that may not be justified.

The Verdict

We give Sani Sticks nearly the highest marks. This is an innovative product that tackles drain odors and organic clogging with an enzyme formula that eats away at the problem right in the drain. The product is environmentally friendly, safe, and chemical-free. It is part of an approach to drain problems that avoids harsh, toxic chemicals.

The tools featured in this Sani Stick Review are good accompaniments to this product. They do a good job of breaking up and removing clogging material. Keeping a supply of Sani Sticks on hand and having either the Vastar Drain Snake or the FlexiSnake Drain Weasel under your sink should go a long way to helping you avoid any serious drain clogs.

Featured Image via Pixabay

Last update on 2022-05-18 at 01:59 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API