For this method, take a cup of baking soda and pour it down the drain. Allow about a minute to give it time to travel down the pipes. Next, pour in a cup of apple cider vinegar, and wait a couple of minutes to let the concoction do its job. Then, run the sink water to rinse everything out.
Both baking soda and vinegar are highly caustic. They are, in fact, able to dissolve certain materials that one would not normally think of as being dissolvable. However, the extreme amounts of acid in vinegar, along with its acidic nature, are what cause the drain to become blocked.
When you mix baking soda and vinegar, the resulting chemical reaction produces carbon dioxide gas. This gas can build up inside your pipes, causing pressure to build and potentially leading to cracks or leaks in older pipes.
You can also pour vinegar down the drain on its own.
Pour about 1 cup of vinegar down your drain and let it sit for 30-40 minutes.
Vinegar is both safe and beneficial to pour down your drain. It acts as a natural cleaning solution and can remove blockages and harmful bacteria that cause foul odors.
You can also deodorize drains and help smelly drains with a combination of baking soda and vinegar. These ingredients, when used together, can also sometimes help to clear drain clogs.
Unclog Slow Drains
Pour 1/2 cup baking soda, followed by 1/2 cup vinegar down drain. Plug drain and let sit for one hour. Then, pour a pot of boiling water down drain. Repeat if necessary.
Drop in 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain. Pour in 1 cup of vinegar, cover the drain with a plug and let sit for 10 minutes – you will hear fizzing.
Dump a good handful of baking soda into the drain, let sit (don't run any water) for 15 minutes, then pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup white vinegar down. Watch the bubbles, hear the pops and fizz, and let it sit for another 15 minutes. Then, boiling water and voila!
And next time you use it, do not pour washing soda powder down the drain. It must be mixed thoroughly in solution, completely dissolved in water so it will flush through the system. Try a plunger first and with persistence. If that doesn't work, snake it.
If your drain is clogged with hair, baking soda can dissolve hair in a drain. To try this safe and easy method at home - first, pour a cup of baking soda down the drain. Then pour a cup of vinegar (white vinegar) down. Allow the mixture to sit for several minutes.
Baking Soda and Salt
Our last home remedy for clogged drains is a combination of ½ cup of baking soda and ½ cup of salt. Dump the mixture down your bathroom or kitchen sink and let it sit for anywhere from 30 minutes to eight hours. Finally, flush out your drain with a boiling pot of water.
Follow the baking soda with 1/2 cup of salt poured into the drain. Let this mixture sit in the drain for several hours—overnight is best.
Some of the most effective household cleaners aren't meant to be mixed. You probably already know never to combine harsh chemicals like bleach and ammonia (or really, bleach and anything). But common pantry essentials that are often used for cleaning — like baking soda and vinegar — shouldn't be mixed either.
While hot water can help loosen up debris, coarse salt actually scours the inside of your pipes, removing more material than hot water alone. After removing standing water from the sink, pour about half a cup of table salt down the drain before you pour in the hot water.
A baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water combo can add extra power for breaking up the buildup in your drain's pipes. Periodically adding baking soda down your drain can keep the sink fresh and odor-free. Changing the filters eliminates the bad smells from a contaminated water softener.
Using a snake is also more invasive and time-consuming than using a chemical cleaner is, and can often become a dirty job. When it comes to getting at and removing major clogs or clogs that are deep down in your pipes, however, a plumber's snake is your best bet.
It is safe to leave baking soda (and vinegar) to work overnight to unclog a drain. Always flush this mixture down with boiling water—no matter how long you leave it sitting in the drain.
A slow-draining sink clogged with ordinary hair and soap scum can build up bacteria in the P-trap until your bathroom sink smells like rotten eggs. This smell can also happen in sinks that haven't been used for a long time. Clear the clog by using a combination of baking soda, white vinegar and hot water.
Hot Vinegar
Hot vinegar does a fantastic job of keeping your drains clean and smelling nice. To do this, you need to warm up some white vinegar and pour it down your drains. Adding a cup of baking soda can help you make it more effective. But, on its own, you can be confident it will do a great job.
Pouring boiling water is quite risky as it might lead to a steam burn or scalding. Another thing to keep in mind is what type of material you are pouring in into. If you have a porcelain sink, it is likely to crack due to the heat. All in all, pouring boiling water down your drain will only cause issues down the road.
Pour a mixture of 1 cup vinegar (apple cider vinegar works best) and 1 cup boiling water down the drain. (Substitute lemon juice for vinegar for a great-smelling drain ? Plug the drain to keep the vinegar baking soda reaction below the drain surface. Flush the drain once more with 4 cups of boiling water.