Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Green Clean: Declogging a drain

I'm a bit of a treehugger, and I hate using chemicals in my home, especially nasty stuff like Drano or oven cleaner. It's amazing to me all of the simple ways one can keep a home clean without all of those toxic chemicals. It's not that difficult, and it's a hell of a lot easier on the ol' pocketbook. I mean, I'm seriously not much for manual labor, so if I can do it, anyone can.

One thing I deal with a lot in my house are slow drains, especially in the bathroom sink and tub. My house was built in 1937, and plumbing was more narrow back then than it is today, so the pipes tend to clog more easily. I try to maintain them through dumping boiling water down them periodically (yeah, yeah, I've heard of the enzyme stuff, which is all good and well, you just have to do it every damn day, and I always forget), but they still end up running slow after a while.

Like I said before, I abhor toxic chemical cleaners, so here's my recipe for clearing clogged or slow drains:

•Baking soda
•Vinegar
•Toilet bowl plunger

I pour baking soda down the drain, top it off with vinegar, and plug the drain (the combo of these two things causes it to foam up, so if the drain is plugged, the pressure helps to push through the clog in the pipe). I repeat this a few times as sometimes this alone will solve the problem. If not, out comes the plunger. I fill the sink or tub with with just enough water (hot preferably) to create pressure, and plunge until the clog breaks up, and voilĂ ! Works like a charm every time!