6 Natural Homemade Drain Cleaners That Actually Work
The kitchen and bathroom are some of the rooms in the house that get the dirtiest and the most grease, germs and stains accumulate. And cleaning the house or drain cleaning is one of the most hated domestic chores despite the fact that we use it every day and it should be one of the cleanest areas of our home. One of the places where more dirt accumulates is the sink and it is necessary to prevent it from clogging. How? With proper drain cleaning and these home drain cleaning tricks that we tell you.
No matter how careful you are not to throw food or other waste, it is quite common that they end up seeping into the pipes generating bad odors and obstructions. Therefore, we offer some effective drain cleaning for the kitchen drain with a product that possibly already have at home.
First of all, you must take into account two recommendations to avoid these types of problems. One of them is not to pour a drop of used oil into the sink since it is very difficult to remove in the pipes. On the other hand, it works very well to add boiling water, slowly, periodically so that the remains dissolve.
The kitchen sink is something that is used daily, continuously. And no matter how careful you are, not throwing food, oil or other types of waste, it is normal that something ends up leaking down the drain, which can generate, over time, traffic jams and bad odors, as a result of the accumulation and decomposition of the themselves.
However, there are ways to avoid any type of obstruction, if you perform a more or less fortnightly maintenance of the installation, and you know how to clean the kitchen drain. We explain in detail some home remedies that are usually very effective.
Boiling Water with Salt
This drain cleaning trick is straightforward and works well if the jam level is mild. But do not do it quickly and suddenly, and in a few minutes the pipe will be unclogged.
Ingredients:
- A liter of water.
- A handful of salt
- A cooking pot.
Steps to follow:
- Mix the liter of water and the handful of salt in the pot and bring it to a boil.
- When the water boils, turn off the heat and remove.
- Carefully pour the boiling water down the affected drain little by little.
-
Coffee Grounds
This drain cleaning trick only works when the level of the jam is very slight.
Ingredients:
- Coffee grounds.
- Warm water.
Steps to follow:
- Pour the remaining coffee grounds down the affected drain.
- Run warm water for a few minutes.
- The coffee grounds will drag the dirt down the drain little by little.
Vinegar
This simple drain cleaning trick only works when the jam level is mild.
Ingredients:
- A bottle of vinegar.
- A cooking pot.
Steps to follow:
- Put the vinegar in the pot and heat it until it boils.
- When it starts to boil, turn off the heat, remove it, and very carefully pour it down the affected drain.
- Do not pour water or any other liquid for 8-10 hours. That is why it is preferable to do it at night, before going to sleep, so that the vinegar acts throughout the night.
Vinegar and Baking Soda
This drain cleaning trick is effective against light and moderate traffic jams, as well as economical. The chemical reaction of acid (vinegar) with a salt (sodium bicarbonate), drags dirt through pipes, effectively unclogging them.
Ingredients:
- 4 glasses of white vinegar.
- 2 glasses of baking soda.
- A cooking pot.
Steps to follow:
- Put the vinegar in the pot and heat it until it boils.
- Pour the baking soda down the clogged drain.
- Immediately pour the boiling vinegar down the same drain.
- Wait 20-30 minutes and do not pour water or other liquids down the drain.
- After half an hour, it is advisable to carefully pour 3 liters of boiling water to finish cleaning the pipe.
Ammonia, Bleach, Or Caustic Soda
If you need a stronger drain cleaning, you can make a ” magic mix ” for which you need three “ingredients”: baking soda, boiling water, and white vinegar.
The first thing you should do is spread a cup of baking soda over the drain, then boil four cups of cleaning vinegar and pour it out little by little. This homemade mixture should be left to act for an hour in the pipe and then add boiling water to completely clean the pipe.
Steps to follow:
Other products that work well for drain cleaning include ammonia and bleach. In the same way and although it may sound like an urban legend, many cleaning experts also recommend Coca Cola, letting it act for 15 to 20 minutes, and pouring boiling water at the end.
They can work well as cleaners when they go down the kitchen drain, and wash away any debris adhering to it, but they must be handled with great care, because they are chemical compounds and, as such, can cause serious burns on the skin and in the eyes.
-
Manual Plunger
It is common that food remains, such as pasta, rice, vegetables, etc., together with the dishwasher soap, are deposited in a superficial, non-uniform layer, near the entrance of the drain.
Cleaning these remains is relatively easy if you have a wire or hook that you can insert to remove them. Once this process is finished, we would finish the drain cleaning by placing a manual plunger over the drain and covering the vent with a cloth or adhesive tape, so that, when making a suction cup, it removes the few remains of sediment that remain.
In addition to household or homemade cleaners, you can also use a professional drain cleaning product or chemical plunger: We recommend it to keep pipes that cannot be easily accessed clean.
It is more expensive, but easy to use, always following the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding the time to let it act, and its handling with gloves, because it is usually abrasive. In this sense, it is important to make sure that it will not be harmful to the pipes.
Although implementing these recommendations for drain cleaning is not complex, they do not always work, and in case of serious blockages, you should always have a professional plumbing company to solve the problem.
From experience we know that hiring a preventive maintenance of pipes and the rest of the plumbing installations of a home is something very comfortable and that also reduces worries
Tips to Avoid Clogged Drains
Before considering which of the above drain cleaning option is best to clean the kitchen drain yourself, there are 2 important recommendations that you should always keep in mind:
- Do not pour oil: As we have mentioned before, you may already be cautious, but you should never put a drop of used oil down the sink. The mass that it becomes when it cools, is deposited inside the pipes, and it is very difficult to remove it.
- Pour boiling water periodically: It works very well as a preventive measure to keep the drain pipe clean, and also as a corrector when the sink is perceived to be a little clogged, which is easily detected because the water seeps, but slowly.
It is usually enough to throw in a large saucepan of boiling water so that the remains that are in it dissolve.
Hope you like this information on WIZARTICLE.
