Thursday, January 14, 2010

Life Skills: Unclogging a drain without chemicals


Note: This is a new feature at femonomics to help make us all a little more handy around the house, car, etc.  Let us know if there's any topics you'd like to see addressed!

Clogged drains are extremely frustrating and gross, but I don't want to even bring chemicals like Drano into my house. Here's a very effective way to unclog a drain with things you'll have on hand in the kitchen.

What you'll need: boiling water, baking soda, any kind of vinegar

Step One: Pour a full pot of boiling water into the basin and let it drain (this might be slow.) This melts the grease from soap, makeup, bath oils, etc, which is partly causing the clog. I repeat this step once or twice, just to be sure.

Step Two: Dump a pile of baking soda in the basin.

Step Three: Slowly pour vinegar onto the pile of baking soda until it all fizzes away. Any flavor vinegar will do, I recently used old apple cider vinegar. Repeat steps two and three if necessary/desired.

Step Four: Listen to the blissful gurgle of a proper drain!

This is also a great maintenance routine to perform on your drains every six weeks or so, to prevent clogs from ever forming.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Commenting is now open, but we'd love it if you chose one username so other commenters can get to know you. To do this, select "Name/URL" in the "Comment as" drop down. Put the name you'd like others to see; the URL is optional.

Any profanity, bigotry, or synonyms for "[ ] sucks!" will be deleted. We welcome criticism as long as you're making a point!