It happens to all of us. At some point, the kitchen or bathroom drain gets clogged and water backs up, sometime unleashing very unpleasant odors.
Instead of reaching for that bottle of standard caustic drain cleaner under the sink, try this natural version that works just as well, without the potential for planetary harm and personal injury…
A Simple Recipe for Unclogging Drains:
- Remove all water from the sink or tub and pour about 1 cup of baking soda
down the drain, making sure that baking soda makes it down the drain. - Pour about 2 Cups of hot boiling water down the drain. Baking soda, mixed with hot boiling water will dissolve the sludge and gunk in the pipe, even if you don’t see it happening. Wait a few minutes.
- Then, pour 1 more cup of baking soda down the drain. Then, add 1 cup of white vinegar
and plug the drain immediately (if you’re unclogging a double sink, plug both drains). You’ll hear sizzling noise coming up from the drain. - When the bubbles have died down, add more hot boiling water down the drain.
- Repeat this process if necessary.
Clogged drain should clear after the above steps but if not, you will need to use a small plunger for sinks
Baking soda, a base, combined with vinegar, an acid, reacts to form carbon dioxide and sodium acetate—the bubbles that do the scrubbing work inside the drain – remember the volcano you built in Science class in Middle School? Once drain gunk is dissolved, these natural, non-toxic ingredients get flushed down the now clog-free drain. Baking soda and vinegar are common non-toxic ingredients that don’t pose health dangers with average consumption. And they are natural ingredients preferable to the synthetic caustic chemicals - sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda or lye - in commercial drain cleaners. While the chemical isn’t too harmful for the environment since it’s broken down by the time it flows into oceans and rivers, it can be harmful to whomever it touches.
According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, sodium hydroxide can burn skin. If swallowed, it can cause chest and abdominal pain, and has the potential to lead to death if it severely damages the lungs, tissue, or causes a loss of pulse or shock.
In order to prevent your drains from clogging, you can pour a cup of baking soda, followed by hot boiling water once a month. This should dissolve any hair and soap scum debris stuck in the drain.
Good Luck!
P.S. You can buy the plunger at any local home improvement store.
More from GLI:
Vinegar is such a versatile product and can be used for so many things from cooking to cleaning your home or car. I use vinegar for almost all of my household cleaning and i like to add a touch of lemon juice for that citrus scent. a lot can be learned if people will look to their pantry instead of the cleaning supply isle for their cleaning and other huose hold needs. Here is a websire with 101 uses for vinegar that you might find useful.
http://www.ecomaidsofla.com/index_files/Page548.htm
This really worked! I was surprised at all the filmy gunk that came up out of my sink drain. A big hair ball floated up and got caught on the stopper lever. I loosened the cap on the back of the drain and pulled the hair ball out with a crochet hook. Now the water drains fine! I already had plenty of baking soda and white vinegar on hand for laundry use.
worked like a gem!
Thanks very much I’d forgotten all about this solution, will try it out today for my clogged sink. God bless you and more folks need to know about this ‘natural and safe’ solution.
I just tried this and am surprised to say it actually worked! It is simple to do, I had the ingredients in the house, and it worked the first time. Thank you so much.
I have always known about vinegar’s wonderful cleaning powers, but I just cannot get over the scent it leaves behind (although I know it is supposed to dissipate after a few hours, I can always still smell a lingering scent) and my boyfriend freaks out whenever I use it. Any way to get around this? I tried the trick of putting orange peels in it for awhile and that made it worse. I love to use natural household products but just can’t do it with this one. Any tips?
Put essentail oils in it. It helps a lot!
try a touch of lemon juice for the citrus sent.
What is the ratio of baking soda and vinegar to keep clean drains running…is it 1:1 ratio?
Didn’t work – nice idea…
This formula works on most clogged drains but I’m sure there are many factors that might affect its efficacy…like the degree of how clogged the drain is, how hot the boiling water is and even how old vinegar is. A fresh, full strength, vinegar works best. If it doesn’t work the first time, repeating the procedure also helps. And if it still fails, then follow up with a “clean” plunger that’s made for sinks drains (a slightly smaller version for kitchen.) And with baking soda and vinegar solution loosening up the clogged drain, using the plunger afterwards will easily dislodge any stubborn debris. Good Luck!
I was usually think of the pumps and commercial products to be used in the drain cleaning. It seems nice that there is a natural version, which is combined of vinegar and baking soda, to replace the standard drain cleaner under the sink. I wonder what kind of essential oils to be used just in case the vinegar smell would linger for hours. Maybe I will suggest it the next time I encountered clogging sink.
interior designing
didn’t work. tried it several times.
Yup. I tried it too. No luck. It’s not caustic enough to burn through the hair and gunk in drains.
I posted an updated procedure for more stubborn clogged drain. Please read the procedure again. Thanks! (Updated 12, 2911)
May I point out that vinegar is actually not an acid, but an alkaline. Therefore it will not burn through clogs. Lemon juice is. Try adding that for the dissolving agent.
vinegar is acetic acid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar
Tried it today- it took a couple of cycles, but it worked! thank you so much!
Cool! Glad it worked. It beats those caustic chemicals, doesn’t it?