I would order it online, my ahem...contacts, in america that are into certain things, told me, that wally world pulled red devil lye (NaOH) to fight meth cooks.

Idiots

Isn't that pretty much what drano or liquid plmbr is?  If not, oven cleaner is pretty much pure NaOH.  Though, I wouldn't recomend it.  I was trying to clean a pan with that a while back....got all over the sink...no good.  And when it is sprayed out, it bounces off and gets inhaled...not reccomended.

A lot of the drain cleaners also contain some aluminum metal granules in there.  This way when you dump it down the drain and the water hits it, the Al and NaOH react to create a lot of gas pressure (H2) which will break up the clogs.

Are you sure it is a pressure what works? I think it is rather hydrogen in statu nascendi - highly reactive and thus able to reduce most of organic substances.

Yes, it's a physical reaction with the hydrogen and not a chemical one.  The majority of clogs in a drain are caused by hair and other solid materials.  By pouring the mixture of Al and NaOH down the drain and then adding water, you create a VERY strong frothing which disrupts the solid clog and allows stuff to move through the pipes.

I also think that a chemical action is used as the basis for the drain cleaners. Over here in the Netherlands the drain cleaners are made of 99% pure NaOH, without aluminium and other stuff in there. You have to pour 100 to 150 gram of the solid (in the form of small granules) in the drain and then add warm water. Next, you have to let it sit for a few minutes and rinse it away. From my experience I can tell you, it works very well, also without the Al-pieces in it.

Jdurg, you got that right, about dissolving flesh, my nasal septum still isn't quite right, after a nasty incident a year or two ago when an electrolytic cell spat out a lump of Na, right up my right nostril

I still have a few scars on my arm from where the cell exploded, treating me to a nice molten NaOH bath, on the odd occasion I have ever actually used lye for its ahem, intended purpose, works a damn sight better than those shitty modern cleaning sprays and the like.

Sometimes, it seems like some of the old-fashioned stuff we used to use are better, lye, chloral hydrate, all the old fashioned s#*$ often turns out working better than the stuff generally promoted now, meh, could just be one of my crazy sleep-deprived ideas, but knowing me, I am probably right