You can maintain your home without using harsh chemicals, instead using natural ingredients. Here are a few ways to make the best homemade drain cleaner.
A lot of people are confused about the proper upkeep of the drains in their homes. Most people don’t pay any attention to their home drains until something goes wrong.
In fact, it is important to maintain your drains before they get clogged. The more often you clean your drains with the best home drain cleaner you can make, the better.
Cleaning drains annually is the absolute minimum. Many plumbing experts recommend cleaning your drains quarterly or even monthly if possible.
The more often you do it, the easier it will be every time. Just a couple of minutes each month is enough to make sure you never have problems with your drains again!
But what if it’s too late? What if you already have clogged drains? In that case, it’s best if you can get them fixed on your own.
It’s even better if you can manage it without using harsh chemicals in your home. Read on to learn how you can unclog your drains using the best homemade drain cleaner possible!
How to Clear Drain Clogs at Home
You can always go to the store and grab a store-bought drain cleaner for your home. However, many of these have harsh chemicals and may shorten the lifespan of your drains.
If possible, it is far better to find a good homemade drain cleaner that you can use instead.
Five Recipes for Cleaning a Drain at Home
Any of these recipes is an improvement over the harsher store-bought varieties you could get instead. Most of these recipes use baking soda, an all-purpose cleaner that works great, especially when combined with the right ingredients. All five of these homemade drain cleaners can also be used to clean shower drains.
1. Baking Soda and Vinegar
Baking soda and vinegar create a potent DIY drain cleaner that can clear out your drain quickly without causing long-term negative side effects. However, it is very important to follow the directions for this recipe carefully.
Baking soda and vinegar combined in the same container will create a quickly expanding mess. So, instead of combining them in a single container, you will pour one down the drain, followed by the other.
Start with the baking soda. About 1/2 cup should be enough.
Once the baking soda is in the drain, you can add the vinegar. About the same quantity, 1/2 cup, will be enough. It is very important that you then plug the drain so that everything stays inside the pipes.
A vigorous chemical reaction will occur in the drain that will loosen everything up! Let the mixture sit for about an hour. Once that’s done, pour a pot of boiling hot water down the drain as well.
You may need more or less hot water depending on your situation.
2. Baking Soda and Salt
This is another great cleaner that has zero chemicals and is simple to make and use.
Once again, you use about 1/2 cup of baking soda. However, in this case, you will combine it with salt instead of vinegar.
Just as with the vinegar, you will use about 1/2 cup of salt. Unlike the baking soda and vinegar recipe, you can safely combine these two ingredients in the same container before pouring them down the drain.
Once you’ve got them mixed up, go ahead and pour them down the drain. Usually, you only need to wait 30 minutes for this solution to work. However, for an unusually bad clog, you may want to let it sit overnight.
Just as with the previous recipe, follow it up with plenty of boiling water until the drain is working smoothly again.
3. Baking Soda and Salt and Cream of Tartar
This recipe starts the same as the previous one, but with a few important differences. Just as before, combine 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of salt in a single container.
But instead of pouring it directly down the drain, add 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar first. Then put the entire mixture in a tightly-sealed container and shake it vigorously to combine it.
You are now ready to pour the mixture down the drain, but only pour half of it.
Once the mixture is in the drain, follow up with plenty of boiling water as with the previous recipes, and wait about one hour.
Your drain should now be unclogged, but if it’s not, you can repeat the process with the other half of the mixture. If everything works after the first half of the mixture, then you can save what remains to use next time you have a drain that needs unclogging.
4. Salt and Borax and Vinegar
For this recipe, you will start with just a quarter cup of salt, a quarter cup of Borax, and a half cup of vinegar. Do not combine them all at the same time.
Instead, pour the salt down the drain first, followed by the borax. Then add the vinegar and follow up with a pot of boiling water. You’ll want to wait about one hour for this cleaner to do its job.
5. Baking Soda and Lemon Juice
This recipe is probably the simplest to make and to use. Pour one-half cup of baking soda down the drain, And then pour one-half cup of lemon juice down after it. Make sure to plug the drain and let it sit.
As with the other recipes, finish this process off with plenty of boiling water. Unlike the other recipes, this mixture will not only get the job done, but it will also give off a pleasant lemony smell .
Find the Best Homemade Drain Cleaner
We hope you learned something helpful about the best homemade drain cleaner in this brief article.
If you still need help, Eyman Plumbing Heating & Air provides expert plumbing services in Omaha, Nebraska. Call (402) 731-2727 today!