How to Clean a Drain With Baking Soda and Vinegar

You will be shocked to see the standing water in your sink and may be more surprised to see this mess even if you unclogged it last week. Here you will get what you should know: how to correctly clean a drain with baking soda and vinegar.

When it comes to the ingredients to unclog the drains, you can choose commercial drain cleaning products, but I have seen some harmful chemicals in these cleaners burn the skin of your drain pipes or damage them, which you may realize very late.

Continue reading for the good hacks for drain cleaning!

How to Unclog a Drain?

As you all know that baking soda and vinegar are free to touch or eat, and they are harmless ingredients. If you are suffering from major unclogging issues in your routine, I suggest you try these natural elements at once and see the magic.

Here you will also discover the precautionary measures which can be adopted to protect your drain from future blocking of your sink pipes. These useful tips will surely work for you and reduce your drain cleaning tasks.

Tools and Materials Required

Baking Soda
Dishwashing Soap
Boiled Water
Citrus Peel
White Vinegar
Pot or Kettle

A Perfect Recipe to Unclog Drains – Blend of Vinegar and Baking Soda

Instead of purchasing any commercial sink cleaner, use the following steps in the right sequence to clean your kitchen or bathroom drain:

Get Ready for Your Things

Before starting the cleaning process, you should put a pot of water on your stove and prepare the hot water. One or two gallons of water is enough for this task. Now put this boiled water in a safer place to protect yourself from burning.

The second thing you have to do is to get rid of the stopper in your drain. If you find any screw on it, unscrew it for direct access to the drain.

Pour Half of the Boiled Water Down the Drain

It’s time to carefully pick the pot of boiled water and pour it down the clogged drain. You must protect your hands and other parts of the body with this boiled water and its steam.

You may have noticed some of the messes already eliminated with this natural drain cleaner. If you frequently do this task after a week or two, you may never need the best drain cleaner for your bathroom or kitchen sinks.

Sprinkle the Baking Soda on it

Further, sprinkle a cup of baking soda over it to unclog the drain. This natural element is proven the best drain cleaner for hair and other tougher messes, which are the major reasons for unclogging.

Don’t worry about the wet sink; it will mush the baking soda and become the more effective drain opener for your sinks.

Pour it with White Vinegar

When you feel that baking soda is entirely down the drain and fighting against the mess, you can use another DIY drain cleaner for its help. Pour two more cups of white vinegar down the drain.

Your sink may be filled with these ingredients, but you shouldn’t take care of it. The factors of baking soda vinegar drain the sinks along with all the spills and food residue effectively.

The chemical reaction of both these homemade ingredients will help to protect your drain from future unclogging. Here you have the option to pour some salt down the drain and make this drain cleaner more strong, but this kitchen ingredient is the optional one.

Wait for 10 Minutes

Now instead of adding anything, you have to wait for five to 10 minutes to allow this reaction to sit into the drain. This vinegar formula will break all the debris, especially the hair, and will dissolve these causes into smaller pieces.

When you don’t see any foaming coming up from your drain, this sink drain cleaner has done his job perfectly.

Pour the Drain Again with Hot Water

You can use the remaining boiled water again here. To clean the sink drain, put this hot water into the sink to unclog the drain completely. This will soften all the residual parts of messes and get rid of them without any doubt.

Use Citrus Peel for Fresh Scent

Finally, you can cut the citrus peel from the orange or lemon and run it with cold water to refresh your drain. It will eliminate the garbage disposal from your drain, and your sink will give you a fresh smell all the way.

Future Precautionary Measures

Once you have successfully unclogged your drain, now is time to avoid future clogged drains, which can be achieved by obeying the following observations:

You can prevent future clogs by avoiding food residue in your cleaning process and through these disposals in the garbage.
Never mix any harmful chemicals while cleaning a drain.
You have to clear all pipes connected to your sink.
If you regularly run the hot water in the drain, it will keep the drain clear and protect it from unclogging.
You can clean the tough drain clogs with a strong dishwasher cleaner or bleach.
If you treat the stubborn clogs well in your previous cleaning process, it will surely discourage their future growth.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Do You Leave Baking Soda and Vinegar in the Drain?

Initially, you can sprinkle the baking soda to clean a drain and later pour it with white vinegar. Now you can leave these natural elements for five to ten minutes to properly clean the drain.

What is the Best Homemade Drain Cleaner?

The combination of baking soda and vinegar drains all the ugly messes stuck in your sink pipes and cleans the drain efficiently. This blend of natural ingredients can be considered the best homemade drain cleaner.

How Do Baking Soda and Vinegar Dissolve Hair in the Drain?

The vinegar contains acetic acid while baking soda use sodium bicarbonate in the blend. These molecules will create bubbles and break the hair into loose materials. Pouring them with hot water will remove all loosened stuff and eliminate all such messes.

Do Vinegar and Baking Soda Damage PVC Pipes?

The vinegar or baking soda will not hurt PVC pipes; although these elements contain acidic material, you can freely unclog the PVC pipes with them without the fear of any damage.

How Do You Dissolve Hair in a Drain?

All the human or pet hair can be dissolved in a drain with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. It will melt the hair in the drain, and hot water will easily remove them from your pipes.

Final Thoughts

Mostly, the clog is unseen, and you can’t detect its exact reason or don’t know what is exactly going on. This makes it doubly difficult to clean this drain with the right material. You can fix this problem with effective natural ingredients.

The baking soda and vinegar solution will keep your drain clean in the future as well without damaging the piping system or any other surface of your sink. You can resolve the tougher drain clogs with this homemade cleaning solution without facing any chemical reaction.