Homemade Drano – Unclog Those Drains for Pennies!
Plagued with a bunch of slow draining bathrooms sinks or maybe even the kitchen sink? We have a great homemade Drano recipe that will help you unclog those drains for pennies! Clogged drains are the number one plumbing issues that many homeowners run into. Especially if you are like our household and have a bunch of long haired girls (or guys I guess). Beard trimmings also don’t help! Couple all that hair with all the other numerous things that get washed down the drain when you wash your hands, brush your teeth and other activities that happen over our sinks.
Like many homeowners I’m guessing that the harsh chemicals in many household drain cleaners are a huge turnoff. That and the price of these drain cleaners being as outrageous as they are. Have no fear though! We have a great homemade recipe to use to unclog those drains that only cost pennies and uses natural ingredients. That and it is really simple and easy to make and do! Best part is the ingredients are very common and you probably already have them laying around the house.
What are these magic ingredients you ask? It’s as simple as vinegar, baking soda and water!
What Happens When You Mix Baking Soda and Vinegar
Our homemade Drano recipe uses to very powerful ingredients, baking soda and vinegar! What happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda? Since vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base, they undergo an acid-base reaction. Of course there are a couple of different theories the brainiacs use when talking about acid-base reactions, but usually when an acid and a base are mixed together, the result is the acid and base neutralizing each other to form water and a small amount of salt. Impressive right?
However, in the case of vinegar and baking soda, the acetic acid and sodium hydrogen carbonate combine to form water, carbon dioxide (which is creates all the foaming bubbles), and sodium acetate. That foaming / bubbling reaction is what makes it such a great drain cleaner!
Homemade Drano Recipe
Ok, as we have mentioned this recipe is very simple and easy to use. Here are the ingredients you will need as well as how much of each.
- 1/2 cup of baking soda
- 1 cup of distilled white vinegar
- 1 gallon of boiling hot water
See all things you probably already have around the house! Also all these ingredients are very cheap keeping the cost of this homemade Drano recipe to under a $1.00 compared to over $5.00 for some Drano at the store.
How to Use the Homemade Drano
Ok, once you have all your ingredients measured out, here is the process.
- First step is to make sure you remove any plugs or drain stops from your clogged sink. You will need access directly to your drain.
- Next pour the dry baking soda down your drain. You may need to get a funnel to help direct all the baking soda where you want it to go. Or anything to cram it down into the drain really.
- Next get an old hand towel or wash cloth, or anything you can use to cover the drain and hold some pressure. Just have it close by and ready.
- Pour half of the vinegar down the drain. You should start to see a foaming reaction once it connects with the baking soda. Then quickly cover the drain with the hand towel and hold it down so the foam is get in the drain. Once the fizzing dies down a bit then pour the rest of the vinegar down the drain.
- Now cover the drain with the towel and maybe place something on top of it to keep the pressure. Let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Now go boil your water while you wait. I use a tea kettle when I do this.
- After the 15 to 30 minutes then remove the towel and slowly pour the boiling water down the drain.
There you go! If you haven’t unclogged your drains in a long time you may need to do this process twice to get all the gunk out.