Vinegar / baking soda vs. Drano?
Have been using Drano recently on a clogged tub, with less-than-great effect. Have read about using vinegar and baking soda, but is there a minimum amount of time I should let pass since I last used Drano, before using the au naturel method?
Have been using Drano recently on a clogged tub, with less-than-great effect. Have read about using vinegar and baking soda, but is there a minimum amount of time I should let pass since I last used Drano, before using the au naturel method?
Use a snake. Drano eats through hair by burning it which will affect your pipes. I unfortunately had a costly repair in my bathroom due to drano. It deformed the pipe and we had to break through the tile to fix the pipe.
baking soda/vinegar is good for clearing out stuff like soap scum in the bathroom drains and oily build-up in the kitchen, but it will not dissolve hair or anything miraculous like that. It’s good to pour a cup of baking soda and a cup of white vinegar down your drains every few weeks to keep them clear and deodorize them.
I’ve had great luck with good old fashioned lye.
I’d like to know more about this baking soda/vinegar stuff. On the surface, it makes no sense. From a ph pov, BS is a base, and vinegar is an acid. They cancel each other out. Or is the foaming supposed to clean drains? I don’t get it.
I had a science book once that had alternatives to cleaning products. From that I took and have been using salt with boiling water (you’d need like 2 cups of salt, and about 6 quarts of water), works for me.
Oh I meant to say I tried the enzyme drain clearers, not cleaners, in my post at 1:53. But they didn’t work.
The only enzyme CLEANER that’s worked for me is the original one, Oxyclean which I use on whites and stains. I tried Bioclean detergeant for entire loads and it doesn’t clean well enough at all. Use it on sheets if you change your sheets every few days diligently. Or on delicate things. But on socks and underwear and towels, no way, it’s not enough.
The pros just want you to think ‘snaking’ (it even sounds scary!!!) is beyond your capacity. It’s actually ridiculously simple. I think the tool cost me about $10. Just poke the end down the drain and crank it all the way out and then all the way back in, and voilà , gross stuff will be pulled out. You can attach it to your power drill for particularly stubborn clogs.
I’ve used those enzyme cleaners before and they did nothing. Nice concept but not effective. I also tried the Biokleen detergeant and didn’t like it at all.
I started using baking soda and vinegar this year to clean out pipes and wash out the kitchen sink and it works great. We also snake our sewer main, too. You do need to do both. Baking soda and vinegar will not eat pipes, don’t know why someone said that. We eat this stuff as food, it’s not going to eat away at metal or plastic pipes.
I use vinegar and water to clean wood floors, I’ve done that for years. I use the baking soda & vinegar to clean the shower and let it run down the drain to clean the pipes there too.
“Green” doesn’t need to be marketed and packaged as such to be good for the environment. Using common household items you have on the shelf is more green than buying additional cleaning products.
Hey all —
OP here. Thanks for the comments. I will definitely check out the Bio-Clean. I’ve used the wire hanger approach to get what I can, and will also remove the overflow cover and get at it from there, but I’m a little hesitant to use a snake. (Isn’t that for pros only?) If the Bio Clean fails, then I’ll call in the plumber…just that getting repairs done is such a pain, dealing with the LL and super.
Thanks again. Peace.