Treehugger - Latest Comments in TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Jane — Tue, 13 May 2014 08:37:47 -0000

this method doesn't always work, need to try again. My friend told me to put a cup of salt in the drain then the baking soda and vinegar!!! We'll see:)

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

angel ovalles — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:16:17 -0000

Hey guys if you want to find more green was to unclog your sink tub or toilet go to http://howtounclogasinkhq.com.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

angel ovalles — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:12:53 -0000

Hey guys if you want to find more green was to unclog your sink tub or toilet go to http://howtounclogasinkhq.com.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

valeriekeefe — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:37:44 -0000

Good point, though sometimes lye is used in cooking.

http://chowhound.chow.com/t...

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

valeriekeefe — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:34:24 -0000

Everytime you flush the toilet... well, most times... you're releasing bio-agents.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Marissa — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:17:15 -0000

it worked it worked Im sooo happy... nothing worked... and just baking soda and vinegar fixed my drains and I save all the money that takes to call a plumber on Sunday Morning... thank you thank you

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Guest — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:33:09 -0000

So, what if you had boiling water in your hand to clear out the sink, as could be recommended in conjunction with baking soda and vinegar? Your example seems to show it's important to be careful around small children.

BTW - I tried this and it worked, though I imagine it was the boiling water more than anything that cleared the jam. The bubbling action may have been useful, but I don't know. I actually think Drano might be better for the municipal system - acid corrosion of the pipes is probably not good, and I'm sure flushing boiling water through the system promotes undesirable growths that cause their own clogs.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

shawn — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:48:09 -0000

yes! this actually worked - i followed with boiling water and the drain hasn't worked that good since we put it in! will definatley use this again! thank you!

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

A.G. — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:31:46 -0000

I had a blocked drain in my tub today and my husband was ready to go buy some Drano. I told him to wait and let me try the baking soda/vinegar method described here. While I was working, my 18 month old son wandered into the bathroom. I did not realize how closely he was standing behind me, and I stumbled into him and spilled a jar of foaming baking soda/vinegar right on the top of his head (and also over my own hands and legs). My first thought was: "My God, what if I had been using Drano!?!?" A little water on my son's face and head, a change of pants for me, and all is well. The clog is cleared, and the bathtub is also sparkling clean. Thank you so much for sharing this article - you may have saved my child from blindness and/or painful injuries!

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Bill — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:20:57 -0000

I heard on radio product that could keep drains free of hair and that it was a cloth. Your page is confusing and can you tell me about thqt product

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

yogafriend — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:00:02 -0000

Hi-

I just did a google search to arrive at this thread, as I've had a clogged drain for a couple of months and my tried and true method of scalding hot water had not cured it, in fact, it just seemed to have gotten worse. The hot water trick I learned from reading Peter Hotten's column, if you know who he is.

I don't know why I didn't search sooner!! This was the first hit, and I used the advice here, and I am telling you I just unclogged my drain in 10 minutes using this advice!! I don't even have any vinegar in the house, I just used the baking soda. I then took the advice to use the plug that comes wiht the tub to sort of "plunge the drain" a bit (I do not have a plunger either), and then I filled the tub ... and after a few minutes, the floodgates opened. It was music to my ears!!!

Insofar as the debate between "natural" and "chemical" .let me tell you younguns that the precurser to "natural" was just plain old FRUGAL. Some of us have used "natural" remedies at home to save money, and it has nothing to do with the environment years ago, we just did it because it was practical, cheap and seemed less harsh on the plumbing or other parts of the house. "Natural" remedies are much more gentle.

Anyhow, thank you to those who contributed. I am here to give my testimonial that this advice works!!

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:11:41 -0000

Very clever, Anonymous:

"dihydrogen monoxide (a very dangerous chemical)"

Dihydrogen monoxide is a fancy word for water (i.e., H2O).

You should spend your time doing more productive things...

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Sharon H — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:53:25 -0000

To unclog a bathroom sink drain, I've found the quickest way is to pull the stopper up and clean off all the hair attached to it. The trick is to get the stopper back in correctly, which takes some wiggling around to do. Thanks for all your comments.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Tanya — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:32:23 -0000

Okay, so we are reminded that baking soda and vinegar are natural chemicals. Still, comparing them to cyanide and Black Plague? An effort to prove a point which (I feel) is beyond the point. The point is that vinegar and baking soda are common food-grade chemicals that we often ingest and though they surely have their potential to be dangerous, they are roughly non-toxic.

Put baking soda in one loaf of bread. Put Clorox in another. Put lye in another. And put cyanide in another. If they're all chemicals...

I agree, that there is a "natural" bandwagon now that it is suddenly profitable and hip to be "green." And I agree, everything in moderation. Still, all educated and assumed arguments aside, I can't help feeling much better about using baking soda and vinegar than Lysol. If someone wants to get into an intellectual discussion about how Lysol is just as much a chemical as baking soda and vinegar, I'm going to cry "semantics!" and then go pour my vinegar down the drain.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Daniel M — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:55:18 -0000

I agree with the scientific perspective. I wish people would stop jumping on the natural bandwagon. Maybe the "natural: alternatives do work, but we close our eyes to the fact that they are still chemical compounds. that said everything in moderation shouldn't destroy civilization as we know it.

ps. The way the word natural is being used on this forum, is no different than the crap they sell to us with the words all natural written on the box.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Bill Nye — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:41:07 -0000

Just a reminder, that everything including baking soda and vinegar is a chemical. By mixing these two compounds together creates a neutral solution with a pH close to 7. The bubbles formed have no abrasive properties against clogs. Thus the cases stating they used baking soda/vinegar methods most likely mean there was more vinegar than baking soda which would bring a solution to pH 4-5. Adding it multiple times would unclog a drain.

Study diligently.

Think Critically.

Then draw your own conclusions.

-BN

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

James — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 14:23:57 -0000

This month's Consumer Reports did a review of the various devices and chemicals available and just trashed the chemical options. They said mechanical plungers, snakes, and water pressure systems (all affordable, ie

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

MBerk — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 18:24:53 -0000

Cool: The sort of old timey lore of my mother and grandmother's age - how to use things you have around the house for other practical purposes. Whether or not Drano is a "chemical" or "toxic" or otherwise dangerous, its pretty much a specialized product with a narrow range of uses, though I've heard tell it can be used by the pharmaceutical hobbyist! Vinegar and baking soda have multiple uses, alone and in combination with other things.

Uncool: extremism. This post went from educational, useful, and even fun, to being a rant on, of all things, definitions of words.

I'd really appreciate a lot more of the first and a lot less of the second.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Berkana — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 02:05:56 -0000

BTW, if you're wondering why the Wikipedia entry's description of how Lye is made doesn't sound old fashioned enough to have been in use for thousands of years, you're right. In the old days, they used inefficient methods for obtaining the same material, usually involving extracting lye from ashes. The new methods for efficiently obtaining lye don't make it anything different. When it's done doing it's job dissolving clogs, it is neutralized, and no longer caustic.

And guess what? Lye (or Drano or anything that uses NaOH) won't make your drains more likely to clog, as someone said. Your plumber lied to you, or was simply ignorant of the matter. They use a strong base such as Drano rather than a strong acid because the strong base is less likely to damage the piping, which is more sensitive to acid corrosion than to corrosion by bases.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Berkana — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 01:53:45 -0000

I too am peeved by the ignorance I see here. People rant all the time about the dismal state of American science education, but don't realize it when they are a part of the problem.

FYI, water, carbon dioxide, vinegar, and baking soda ARE ALL CHEMICALS. I hate the irrational fear of anything labeld a "chemical".

With that said, let me point out that Drano is NaOH, which is sodium hydroxide. Sodium is natural. (It actually is; I guarantee it.) The hydroxide of sodium is natural as well; it used to be derived from ashes; that's what lye is, and believe it or not, lye is totally natural.

What people are afraid of is whether it is toxic or not. Rest assured, it is not the toxicity that you should be concerned with; sodium is not toxic, nor is the hydroxide part. Drano won't kill you because it is toxic; what it will do is burn you badly. That is different from toxicity, which describes whether or not it will poison you. It is the fact that it is caustic that makes it dangerous. But that's exactly why you use it to clear clogs. When it's done doing it's job, you end up with a salty dissolved-clog that can rinse away. In fact, vinegar is also caustic, just less so and slower acting.

Lye is natural and has been used by people for thousands of years. Don't freak the hell out because it's a "chemical". It's not even a synthetic chemical. It's behavior like that which gives the environmental community the bad reputation of attracting prefer-to-fear folk who balk at anything that sounds remotely "chemical".

For your illumination, please read this Wikipedia entry on Lye:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

unknown — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 22:10:03 -0000

Well I'm glad we have some scientists in the house! And clearly with some time on their hands. You'd better write to this young lady and tell her she's incorrect for even thinking of posting this. And I guess her magazine source is lying then too...

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:29:16 -0000

I use SCD Bio Klean. uses natural microbes to eat up gunk. helps with stink too. all-natural. no chemicals, and when it makes its way to rivers it continues helping the natural ecology. i hate chemicals too. this stuff is a great maintenance tool.

Is releasing bio agents any better than chemicals? Especially if they don't belong in an ecosystem? By the time it reaches the rivers it will be water, I sure hope your waste water municipality doesn't let it reach the river.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Milton — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:22:38 -0000

"Are you implying that those two ingredients are chemicals?"

Was I being too subtle? Here, I'll spell it out: vinegar is a chemical compound and baking soda is a chemical.

Are you implying that baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and vinegar (acetic acid - the subtance of interest) are not chemicals? If so, then what are they?

You should also be aware that by innocently combining sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid, you eventually create a salt called sodium acetate -- another chemical. The solution also creates, as byproducts, dihydrogen monoxide (a very dangerous chemical), and carbon dioxide.

As we all know, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Clearly, by mixing vinegar and baking soda, you run the risk of ending civilization as we know it. Do you really want that on your conscience?

"You haven't done your research."

Well, apparently one of us hasn't.

"Simply google "vinegar" or "baking soda."

Will that tell me something my gradeschool chemistry class didn't?

"Both are natural."

So are cyanide and the Black Plague. Does that mean they are harmless? In any case, both commercial vinegar and sodium bicarbonate are the products of industrial chemical processes -- which is perfectly natural.

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:57:30 -0000

keyword: "natural"

Re: TH Tip: Unclogging the Drain

lara — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:48:13 -0000

Yes, they are chemicals, although naturally occuring chemicals. Baking soda is calcium bicarbonate. Check http://www.chemistryquestio... for chemical properties of baking soda.