Kitchen Hint: Eco-Friendly Drain Cleaner

I found myself with a very sluggish kitchen drain last week in the middle of a very busy day. My pipes under the kitchen sink are fairly new but they are plastic. I never feel right using strong drain cleaners on them. Always like to find a less toxic alternative. I used a combination of baking soda and vinegar and it did the trick. The drain was not completely clogged but really slow. I let the water drain out. Plunging had helped with that. Then I sprinkled baking soda in the drain. I followed that up with a couple of cups of plain white vinegar. It bubbled like crazy and made promising gurgling noises. I waited 15 minutes and flushed the drain with very warm water. Still slow, but better. I let the water drain and repeated the process. The second time resulted in a drain that is well, draining. Good as new. Lost cost, non-toxic, too.

I tried this once on a bathroom sink. When I added the vinegar it bubbled up as expected. What I didn’t expect was a rubber washer in my sink. Some weeks before I had put a new washer in the hot water tap. While  getting ready a washer had faller down the drain. I had forgotten about it. When I added the vinegar to the baking soda weeks later it bubbled right out of the drain..

I would love to hear any of your eco-friendly home remedies.