Does baking soda and vinegar unclog a drain?
For a stopped drain, almost never. Baking soda is a mild base and vinegar is a mild acid. When they meet they foam and form carbon dioxide gas, water and sodium acetate. That fizz looks busy, but it lasts only until one of the two ingredients runs out, and what is left in the pipe is a weak salt solution, mostly water.
If you are asking what happens when you put baking soda and vinegar down the drain, that is all that happens: foam near the opening, some gas, and a mild rinse. What it can do is help with a slightly slow drain where the problem is a thin slick of grease and soap, or a bad smell. What it cannot do is break down a hairball, dislodge a lump of wipes, or open a pipe that is full of water. A plug is a physical obstruction, and a few spoonfuls of fizz do not remove one.
How do you clean a drain with baking soda and vinegar?
If you want to try it, here is the version that gives it the best chance. Run it on a drain that still moves water, a sink or tub that is slow instead of standing full.
1. Pull the stopper or strainer and take out any hair you can see.
2. Pour in about half a cup of baking soda, and push it down the drain with a spoon if it sits on top.
3. Pour in about half a cup of white vinegar. It will foam right away.
4. Cover the drain opening with a plug or a wet cloth to keep the fizz pointing down the pipe, and wait fifteen to thirty minutes.
5. Flush with hot tap water for a minute or two.
Do not use this on top of a commercial drain cleaner. Acid meeting a caustic product releases heat, and the splashing is a real hazard to your eyes and skin. Many gel and foam openers also contain bleach, and Poison Control says you should never mix vinegar with chlorine bleach because it creates chlorine gas. If you do not know what is in the pipe, do not add vinegar.
The same steps work for a bathtub or shower drain and a kitchen sink. For a bathroom drain, lift out the stopper first and pull the hair, because the fizz does nothing to it.
Why do home remedies for clogged drains fail?
Most of them share the same weakness. They are gentle, and a clog is not gentle.
They do not touch hair. Hair is the main thing that builds up in tubs, showers and bathroom sinks, and a mild fizz leaves it where it is.
They do not remove grease, they move it. Soap and fat coat the pipe wall, and a little foam can loosen the top of that coating without carrying it out of the line.
They do not reach far. The reaction happens near the opening. A clog twelve feet into a line never sees it.
They need a pipe that is not full. If the sink is standing in water, the mixture dilutes before it does anything.
Should you put boiling water down the drain?
Boiling water is fine for some pipes and wrong for others. Metal pipes handle it, and it can melt soap and loosen a thin grease film in a kitchen sink. It is a risk for plastic. One major maker rates its PVC drain, waste and vent pipe for non-pressure use up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and water at a rolling boil is 212, so a full pot poured into a plastic trap can soften or distort it. A cold porcelain sink or tub can also crack from thermal shock if you pour a thick stream of boiling water onto it. Very hot tap water is the safer choice.
It also has a limit that people do not expect. Melted grease travels farther down the pipe and cools and hardens again in a colder section, where it is harder to reach. If you use hot water on a greasy line, you may have moved the problem instead of removing it.
Is it bad to pour soda down the drain?
A glass of soda poured in now and then will not hurt. As a drain cleaner it does not work, despite what the internet says. Cola is mildly acidic, with a pH around 2.5 from phosphoric acid, and nothing in that chemistry targets hair, grease or paper. Plain hot water does more.
Do dish soap, a wire hanger and other kitchen remedies work?
Dish soap is a detergent, so it helps lift a greasy film off a pipe wall, and it can ease a slightly slow kitchen drain when followed by hot water. It will not move a hair plug or a solid object. Salt has no clear way of moving a clog, so do not count on it. A wire hanger can fish hair out of a strainer, but it snags on bends. Plastic wrap over the opening only helps a plunger make a seal. Whatever you try, none of it replaces pulling the stopper and emptying the trap.
Why does my drain smell, and what fixes it?
A smelly drain is a different problem from a clogged one, and it often has an easier fix.
- Film in the drain body or overflow. Bacteria feed on soap, hair and food residue on the walls of a drain, and the smell comes up through the opening. Baking soda and vinegar plus a scrub with a bottle brush is a decent response here, and so is cleaning the stopper.
- A dry trap. Every fixture has a trap that holds a plug of water to block sewer gas. A floor drain or a guest bath sink that has not been used for weeks dries out, and gas comes through. Pouring water in refills the seal, and the smell goes. University facilities offices suggest doing this about once a month for drains you rarely use.
- A kitchen disposal. Food stuck under the rubber splash guard rots there. Scrub the underside of the guard.
- A vent or main-line problem. If several drains smell, or the smell is strong and constant, the cause is likely not at the fixture. Our page on a sewer smell in the house goes through that.
What works better than a home remedy?
The tools that remove the clog beat any mixture that tries to dissolve it. Pull the stopper, empty the trap, use a plunger with the overflow blocked, or run a hand snake or a plastic strip for hair. Our directions are on how to snake a drain, and our comparison of store products is on whether drain cleaners work. For a particular fixture see how to unclog a sink, how to unclog a shower drain or how to unclog a toilet. Enzyme products are the other natural option, and they work slowly, over several hours, on light buildup.
When should I stop and call a plumber?
Stop fizzing and pouring, and call if any of these are true:
- More than one fixture is slow or gurgling. The blockage is in a shared line, and nothing poured into one sink will reach it. See recurring drain backups for the pattern.
- Water or sewage comes up in a tub, shower or floor drain. Stop using water in the house.
- The drain was slow, you cleaned it, and it is slow again within weeks. There is a cause in the pipe.
- The smell is strong, constant or smells like sewage. That is not a film in a drain.
- You have tried a remedy, a plunger and a snake, and the water is still not moving.
The matching services are drain cleaning, drain snaking and clogged drain repair.
What does it cost to have us clear it?
Clearing a single branch line, one fixture and not a main line clog, is covered by our $59 drain cleaning special. Past that, what moves the price is which fixture is involved, whether there is a cleanout or other way in, whether the line needs a cable or jetting, and whether the trouble sits in the branch or the main. We diagnose first, then hand you a flat price in writing that you approve before anything starts. It is a flat rate and not an hourly meter, and on-site estimates are free.
Is it bad to put boiling water down the drain?
It is fine for metal pipes in a kitchen sink, but a full boil is far above the 140 degrees Fahrenheit one maker rates its PVC drain pipe for, and it can crack cold porcelain. Very hot tap water is the safer choice.
Does Coke clean drains?
No. Cola is mildly acidic, about pH 2.5, but nothing in it targets hair, grease or paper. Hot water does more.
Why does my drain smell even after I clean it?
The cause may be a dry trap, residue in the overflow, or a vent or main-line problem. A smell at several drains or a strong sewage smell points past the fixture.
Why did the baking soda and vinegar not work on my slow drain?
The fizz is short and weak, and it works near the opening. Hair, packed grease and objects need to be pulled or cut out of the pipe.
Where we work
American Rooter & Drain was established in Caldwell, Idaho in 1945 and has worked the greater Treasure Valley since 1945. We snake drains in Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian, Kuna, Eagle, Star, Middleton, Garden City, Emmett and the rest of the valley, plus Ontario, Nyssa and Vale in Oregon. See what we do in Boise, Nampa, Caldwell and Meridian. Call (208) 366-5771, days, nights, weekends and holidays.
