With four bathrooms and a very overworked kitchen in my home, drains have a tendency to become clogged.
Maybe a bit quicker than I would like, or can keep up with, if I am being honest.
Between kids shoving stickers and small pieces of papers down (please tell me I’m not alone in that!), crazy amounts of girl hair tangling in it and the half tube of toothpaste each child seems to leave in the sink each night it gets downright nasty in a hurry. I’m not a fan of pouring poisonous chemicals all over my kid’s bathrooms, so I decided to try my hand at a safe, chemical free and green homemade drain cleaner to help keep the drain clog free.
It only required two ingredients and it worked like a charm!
Are you ready for the secret ingredients in this magic cleaner? It’s pretty simple, just using some white vinegar and baking soda. More than likely these are items that you already have in your kitchen right now. Well then, why not give it a try!
1/2 cup baking soda
1 cup white vinegar
Start by pouring the baking soda onto and around the clogged drain. Slowly pour the vinegar on top (make sure to have the kids help as they all seem to enjoy the foaming). When the two ingredients combine they will foam up briefly. This is normal. Let the mixture sit for about 2 hours before running water again to give it time to fully do it’s job.
By this time you should have a clean drain, no worries about fumes or spills from chemicals and plenty of extra free time to use in another way.
Simple, yet effective, I am loving this green homemade drain cleaner. I’m also still really enjoying the homemade granite cleaner that I shared recently. What about you? Do you have a favorite DIY cleaner?
Great tip!!
Melissa@TheHappierHomemaker recently posted…How to Dice an Onion in Under a Minute!
Kristen,
I love the new blog design. This tip is fabulous I have used it before myself. It works beautiful.
have a great day,
Karen Marie
Dragonfly & Lily Pads
If the the drain remains clogged after using the homemade cleaner, you will need to use a small plunger for sinks. The baking soda and vinegar loosens the clogging material, freeing the gunk that should start moving around with the plunger’s pressure.
And I can attest to this a well. this really works wonders, but bare in mind though that it only works best with non-plastic pipes. Otherwise, it will just destroy the plastic pipes you have at home.
Oh, that is great to know Frank! Thank you for sharing!
Oh, I might want to use something like this for my drains! I noticed that they haven’t been draining as well as I would like, and I don’t want to have to go get a snake. I will try this and see if it will work as well as you say it will! Thanks for sharing! http://www.lincolnseweranddrain.com/sewer-drain/
I have noticed that our bathroom sink has been draining slower and slower lately. Thanks for the recipe for such a simple drain cleaner, I think it is about time I give it a try. I like you, I prefer to find safe, chemical free solutions for my cleaning products.
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I have heard that using vinegar helps in clearing drains, however, I have never heard about adding baking soda. I can definitely see that using an active ingredient like baking soda will help to break down the particles clogging up your drain. This seems like a really effective and easy way to unclog your drain, I will definitely be sure you use it the next time I need to unclog a drain!
Wow, this is super cool! I know a lot of people can spend a lot of money on drain cleaning products. This seems like a really good, inexpensive alternative. I’ll have to give this a try!
Looks like you solve the problem. Now you should do regular maintenance on it. Educating yourself on how to make things lasts longer really does wonder. Great job.
Using strong cleaner before applying plunger is a good idea as it will help to soften the clogged material in pipeline to make it move from the place, it is stored.
I feel that if we make little efforts to repair the plumbing issues, we will find that it is not as difficult as it seems.
That’s so cool how vinegar and baking soda can clean out my drains. My wife doesn’t understand that you can’t put certain things down the drain. I’ve tried some commercial brand drain cleaners and they haven’t worked. I’m going to give your formula a try. Hopefully it works!
I’m constantly baffled by the many uses of baking soda. I use it to help in cleaning my floors, so I’m glad I can also use it for cleaning my drains. I’d love to try this idea out this week, thank you for this help!
Overuse of heavy cleaners kills beneficial bacteria in the septic tank, so solids won’t break down as well.
Inspect the grease trap’s parts once the lid is removed. You will be removing and replacing parts during cleaning, and you need to know where the components are located and how to install them to put them back in properly. For better results, it may help to draw a diagram of the trap’s interior so that you can refer to during the re-installation process.
You may also consider replacing your older faucets with those that feature washerless valve cartridges instead of rubber washers.
Another excellent home remedy is vinegar. Straight vinegar rubbed on from a cloth or sponge can clean away the grease and food build-up in no time. Keep in mind, however, that the smell may linger for a day or two, but it won’t last much longer than that. If your cabinets aren’t too dirty, you can dilute the vinegar in a little warm water.
If you have a wet & dry shop vacuum, it can become a terrific tool to unclog drains. First, set it to vacuum liquids. Cover up the vent to prevent a mess. Then, create the tightest seal you can over the drain. You may want to get creative and adapt an old plunger head for this purpose. With the vacuum turned on its highest setting, it can be powerful enough to draw the clog up the pipe and into the vacuum bag. It doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a shot.
A drain drainer is a great tool for keeping hair from going down your drain. Place a strainer in the opening of the drain. You will want to be sure to clean the strainer regularly, this will help prevent hair and other debris from entering your shower drain. If you have standing water in your shower you may have a blockage further in the line.
Hi ,
I really like your post!
From last few days i was searching for various home cleaning services. You have shared such a wonderful idea of homemade drain cleaner.It is really very helpful and it also take less time to make drain cleaner.Your post is really very helpful.Keep sharing more post like this.
Thank you so much for such a nice post!
Regards
Adedc
Great it works fabulous I tried it at home.Free of cost and give fast results.Thanks and keep sharing please.
Embarrassing to admit but even though I’ve been in the water damage restoration industry for many years, I never even knew that baking soda and vinegar would do the trick. I’ve tried using a drain snake and vacuuming the drain with great results, I guess next time I might just try the baking soda and vinegar, we have plenty of that in the house. Great tip, thanks!
This homemade drain cleaner is so much safer than store bought. Thanks so much for sharing.
Really informative article. Learned some things on that article. Septic Systems need really good care and maintenance.
Quite nice a recipe 🙂 Should definitely try it out!
this is a great DIY solution. I’ve bought caustic soda in the past that you use the same way, with boiling water. But after seeing this I’m going to try this more eco-friendly solution.
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