Clogged drains are a pain, and nobody really wants to use toxic drain cleaners that are powerful to strip the flesh from your fingers. Having tried an “environmentally friendly” drain cleaner that was $20 for a small container, I can attest to the fact that it didn’t work at all, and I was forced back to toxic crap.
Enter baking soda and vinegar.
An AMAZING drain cleaner. I was simply astounded at how well it works.
Our bathroom sink gets clogged periodically, and I put about 1/2 a cup of baking soda down the drain (where I could still see water), poured a small amount of water in to help the baking soda work its way down the drain, then started pouring in about 1/2 of a cup of vinegar.
Well, lo and behold, the drain is unclogged.
With baking soda and vinegar.
I figure I could probably get better results by quickly filling the sink with about 4 cm of water above the drain, then plugging the drain with a plunger. Or, if you live in North America where sink drains have plugs that snugly fit the drain, simply plug the drain. That would add pressure. But either way, I was pleased with the results.
Costs:
ARM & HAMMER Baking Soda – 13.5 lb. bag
Bakers & Chefs Vinegar – 2×1 gallon jugs
Actual usage was about 150 g of baking soda (about $0.43) and about 150 ml of vinegar ($0.12), or about $0.55.
You probably already have this in your house, so the next time your drain is clogged, give it a try. Not only is it cheap and effective, but it’s non-toxic.
Cheers,
Ryan
thanks, good tip.
I’ve heard it recommended for all sorts of things. But I’d be careful what brand I use if taking it internally – “Kaiser Natron” in Germany is supposed to be good – *small amounts* (internally) are supposed to be good for alomost everything 😉
Cleans your teeth, cleans your gut, makes your dinner 😉 etc., etc.
as you’ve probably gathered from my post above – I havent used baking soda internally. I just read up about it a bit and would *not* really recommend it – sounds like it can be helpful, but depends very much on where your body is at right now.
Baking soda for consumption can be very good. Check http://cancertutor.com/ for information on baking soda as a cancer treatment. It has a lot of uses.
It’s just freaky how many good uses there are for it.
I tried some with water for a health issue, and it worked. I was rather surprised at just how effective it was.