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Sunday 28 October 2012

Unclog your home..the cheap way



I'm sure you have all had your drains clogged at some point.  If you go to the grocery store to get a product to help you clean your drains, you will notice that 1) they are quite expensive and 2) Each store bought drain cleaner  is full of strong chemicals some of which we have no knowledge of.  Commercial drain cleaners are among the most dangerous of household cleaners.

  • They can be fatal if swallowed
  • Can damage your skin such as burns to the outside of your body as well as tissues inside your body
  • It can cause blindness if the product gets directly in your eyes
  • They are very harmful to our environment
  • Store bought solvent based cleaners can contaminate drinking water and damage septic systems

What if you are strapped for cash?  Well below you will find some information about homemade drain cleaners and you probably have the ingredients already in your pantry. 

When using home methods to clean our clogs, one method that people are using, I must warn you about.  You need to avoid cleaning your pipes by blowing a large amount of air through them to dislodge the clog.  This will most likely result in burst pipes so I warn you NOT to do this for any reason.



This homemade cleaner is very basic and easy to make and only consists of 3 ingredients.

1 cup of baking soda
1 cup of vinegar
Boiling water

     Toss in 1 cup of baking soda, and pour down a cup of vinegar, and put your stopper in the drain and let it sit for 30 minutes.  Remove stopper and pour a kettle of hot water on top.  Double the recipe amounts  and give it an hour then dump more kettles of boiling water (2-3 times) to completely clear out the gunk.

The following is a monthly preventative measure you can use to prevent a build up in your drains.

     Once a month you should do some easy maintenance on your drains by adding 1 part baking soda, 1 part salt and 1/4 part cream of tartar.    Doing monthly clears out any fat, grease and nastiness that buildup to help prevent clogs.

  • Pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup of this mixture into the drain and dump a kettle full of boiling water down the drain

  • Run hot water from the tap for a couple of minutes, and then turn to cool water and run a few more minutes

Hopefully this will help you save money in your home on drain products and plumbers.  Have you ever tried this on your drains?  If so did it clear your drains out well?  Do you prefer to use products that you know what all the ingredients are?

2 comments:

Jerimi said...

Yes! I do this all the time. I've found that a lot of the time, just using boiling water will clear it up, too. I reserve the vinegar and baking soda for the times when that doesn't work.

Unknown said...

Great tip Jerimi, I will definitely try the boiling water first next time we get a clog. I have really enjoyed this month and have learned a lot. I enjoy reading what others are doing and if they are using these methods for their homes.