Natural Drain Unclogger

Submitted by mersaydees

"Based on a recipe from my Shaw’s grocery store’s Wild Harvest November 2009 holiday pamphlet. It says, “Along with potato peels and onion skins often comes a clogged sink. Thankfully, there is a way to unclog sinks without sending toxic chemicals down the drain and out into the environment.” Cook time is boiling water time. I can honestly say that I use this regularly in my kitchen sink and it works as well for me as Draino did."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 4
• Yields: 1 unclogged drain

ingredients

• 2 gallons water, divided
• 1⁄4 cup baking soda
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 plunger (cup style of course!)

directions

1. Clean any debris from sink.
2. Boil a gallon of water. Slowly, pour this down the drain. For minor clogs, this may do the trick. If not, continue with next steps.
3. Pour baking soda down the drain. Immediately follow this with the vinegar. The interaction between the two should be enough to break up the clog.
4. Allow the sink to “rest” in this state for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil.
5. Pour two quarts of the boiling water down the drain after the 15-20 minutes, to rinse away the vinegar, baking soda and clogging debris.
6. Place the cup plunger over the sink drain and plunge to thoroughly dislodge the clogging materials.
7. Finish by pouring two more quarts of boiling water down the drain.

Reviews

[breezermom]

This worked wonderfully well! It was easy to do and very economical. I'll use it again in the future! *Update* I've used this several times on different clogs, and it seems to work really well on kitchen clogs...not as well on hair/bathroom clogs. But is is a great drain unclogger!"Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chef1MOM-Connie]

Made for Aus/NZ Swap40. I have used a similar recipe in the past but with the addition of the boiling water it seems to unclog even the stubborn clogs faster. We opened up the cottage a few weeks back and as we have to use a antifreeze in the pipes before winter I used your recipe to disinfect and get rid of any leftover clogs from the winterfreeze. Worked like a charm! I also used this in the bathroom sink, shower, and toilet. Not only does it clean out any clogs, it also made everything smell fresh and clean. Much better than the commercial cleaners/drain openers I have used in the past. Thank you!

 

[Ambervim]

Worked like a charm in my master bath. I ended up repeating the baking soda and vinegar a few times. I tried this after I switched to an foaming iso active toothpaste and noticed the drain was running faster every day. Only toothpaste, other than neem, I will ever use.

 

[Lucky in Bayview]

This worked great! Thanks for the recipe.

 

[Mia in Germany]

Fantastic recipe for a kitchen drain unclogger! Never used the commercial ones because they contain sodium hydroxide which only makes soap out of the fat that clogs the sink... No more removing the trap now! Will use this regularily. Thanks for sharing this great idea!<br/>Made for Best of 2010.