Clogged drains : 10 remedies and tricks to unclog showers and sinks without leaving the house
Clearing a blocked drain can become a real nightmare, and it can often seem like the only solution is to use bleach or expensive specialty products to unclog showers and sinks or even worse to call a plumber. But before we get to those extreme scenarios, it’s worth trying some cheaper but effective ways and tricks for which you won’t even have to leave the house.
Clogged drains are most often caused by a buildup of food, grease, and hair settled over time along the pipes making it difficult for water to pass through. Grease in particular can be a nightmare to get rid of, but fortunately these simple and in many cases solving remedies can come to our aid.
The natural remedies we point out will be effective substitutes for the solutions that are usually used to gouge household drains, such as bleach or specially designed products that can be found for sale in any supermarket, but which unfortunately more often than not can be polluting.
Here are some alternative ways to unclog drains and sinks that work and that you can turn to the next time the problem arises. With any luck, you’ll avoid calling the plumber, clear the clog in no time and save money.
Salt and baking soda
This is one of the simplest remedies to resort to in case of clogged household drains. To solve the problem, pour over the drain:
4 tablespoons of coarse salt and
4 tablespoons of baking soda
follow up with a pot of boiling or otherwise very hot water.
Hot water and sink unclogging
If you don’t have any ingredients in the house that could help you flush your drains, don’t forget the old-fashioned sink unclogger. This is one of the most popular means also used by plumbers to solve less problematic blockages. Insist by applying pressure with the sink unclogger and try pouring in very hot water little by little to move the engorgement.
To succeed in unblocking the engorgement in a sink drain, you may find it helpful to use a metal stick (plumbers use metal spirals, for example). Try wire or a knitting needle.
Dishwashing detergent
This is a good remedy, especially for kitchen sink drainage. Pipes can easily get clogged by food residues, grease, and dirt from washing dishes. Detergent could therefore help unblock the situation. By using an environmentally friendly dishwashing detergent, you will limit pollution. Pour half a cup of it down the drain and let it sit for as long as possible so that the clog can unclog or dissolve. Then try pouring hot water in little by little to make it easier.
Shampoo and shower gel
If, on the other hand, the problem of blocked drains should concern the bathroom, try making use of what you will have at hand most easily, namely shampoo and bubble bath. If you will be out of the house all day, or if the problem occurs overnight, try pouring half a glass of shampoo or bubble bath into the drains and letting it work for as long as possible. When you return, supplement by pouring boiling water to check the effectiveness of the remedy. In the case of some congestion, the best solution is to wait, which may also be short.
Carbonated soft drinks
Carbonated soft drinks are certainly not healthy, but they can be useful for gushing household drains, especially in the case of the toilet, in the absence of other remedies, and if you do not have time to wait long. The most common carbonated soft drinks are so powerful that they can clear even the most difficult clogged drains in a matter of minutes. Try it for yourself by pouring them down drains in an emergency.
Laundry Soda (Sodium Carbonate)
To clear drains, but also to prevent clogs from forming, you can turn to laundry soda (better known as Solvay Soda). This is not caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) but an environmentally friendly household cleaning powder (sodium carbonate), readily available from supermarket shelves next to laundry detergents. Pour at least 4 tablespoons of it — depending on the clog — down the drain and follow with a liter of boiling water.
Baking soda and vinegar
Baking soda and vinegar, when combined, create a chemical reaction that can help unblock clogs in the pipes: acetic acid reacts with bicarbonate, which is basic, releasing carbon dioxide, a gas that produces the effervescence that can clear clogs of food, hair, and soap. If the problem persists on the first few tries, pour a whole cup of baking soda and at least half a liter of vinegar down the drain without fail as well. Follow this up with a liter of warm water and wait. If the problem does not resolve immediately, try again after a while, perhaps even helping with mechanical means.
Citric acid and bicarbonate
With citric acid and baking soda, you will get a reaction very similar to that between vinegar and baking soda described above about the effect of unblocking traffic jams, but citric acid has the advantage of being less polluting than vinegar once dispersed in the environment, so between the two, we recommend this only resort to vinegar if you do not have citric acid available at home. The process is very similar:
Pour half a cup of citric acid down the drains, followed by half a cup of baking soda and a liter of warm water. Wait patiently for the remedy to take effect.
Hot water, salt and vinegar
If you do not have citric acid at home, here is another solution that involves ingredients always present in the kitchen. You will need 500 milliliters of white wine vinegar, 1 liter of water, and 5 tablespoons of coarse salt:
Heat the vinegar in a small saucepan and the water in a separate pot.
Pour the coarse salt into the water and stir.
Then take care of the drains by first using the vinegar and then the boiling salted water and wait.
Caustic soda
Resort to caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, the same soda you use to make soap at home) only if the problem is very serious and if previous remedies have not worked, or if it is the only useful ingredient you have on hand, outside of classic drain products. Don’t forget precautions: wear gloves, and never touch soda with your hands, if you can protect your eyes with a mask or goggles. Pour two tablespoons of soda down the drain pipes, follow up with boiling water, walk away, and let it work. Clogged drains : 10 remedies and tricks to unclog showers and sinks without leaving the house