is baking soda & vinegar safe for a household drain?

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

I keep reading conflicting info online... 50% of articles say its perfectly safe, while another 50% say it's not safe for your drain. I just need to clear one of our shower drains that is a little slow moving. what do you guys use for that?

 

[PelliX]

I keep reading conflicting info online... 50% of articles say its perfectly safe, while another 50% say it's not safe for your drain. I just need to clear one of our shower draina that is a little slow moving. what do you guys use for that?

Depends on whether you have plastic, PVC pipes and so on. If not, it should be OK, but duration is key. Leaving it there for 20 minutes to do its thing isn't going to harm anything, just flush it out afterwards.

I use a special stuff that's made for it. Little white pellets, like a really coarse soap powder, almost. I'd reckon any DIY place should have something applicable.

 

[hsb]

Have u removed the drain stopper to see if its a hair clog. Our daughters bathroom gets cleaned out a 3-4x a year bc her hair is long. Our shower isnt as bad since my wife's hair is short.

If its a hairclog at the drain stopper, make a hook out of a wire hanger and fish it out

 

[Mike_LA]

I only problem with baking soda and vinegar is if there is a pressure build up from the reaction, blowing out a bad pipe connection . . .

 

[C-Grin]

As a plumber for 30 plus years you are wasting your time, you can use one of these if there is hair right at the drain.


But if you have a real clogged drain nothing but snaking or jetting it out will clear it.

 

[C-Grin]

Oh and by the way if you use chemicals in your drain and then it does not work, tell whoever is bringing a snake to clear the line. Just so they know what they are dealing with when they work the cable as caustic chemicals can hurt people.

 

[Edgar Frog]

As a plumber for 30 plus years you are wasting your time, you can use one of these if there is hair right at the drain.
View attachment 147327

But if you have a real clogged drain nothing but snaking or jetting it out will clear it.

I've been using one of these since they started making them. They work great. I don't think I've ever had a clogged shower/tub drain that wasn't due to a hair clog in over 30+ or so years. I used a hanger and hemostats or needle nose pliers before these came out. After the hair clog comes out I run hot water for a bout a 1/2 minute to a minute and it's back to draining perfectly. Until the next hair clog at least.

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

As a plumber for 30 plus years you are wasting your time, you can use one of these if there is hair right at the drain.
View attachment 147327

But if you have a real clogged drain nothing but snaking or jetting it out will clear it.

I've been using one of these since they started making them. They work great. I don't think I've ever had a clogged shower/tub drain that wasn't due to a hair clog in over 30+ or so years. I used a hanger and hemostats or needle nose pliers before these came out. After the hair clog comes out I run hot water for a bout a 1/2 minute to a minute and it's back to draining perfectly. Until the next hair clog at least.

Yep. They work great! I buy ones on Amazon. Three women with long hair in the house. Those little suckers get used a lot.

 

[Lo-Tek]

I keep reading conflicting info online... 50% of articles say its perfectly safe, while another 50% say it's not safe for your drain. I just need to clear one of our shower draina that is a little slow moving. what do you guys use for that?

I use Liquid Plumber or something like it. Works great for minor blockages, ime.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I keep reading conflicting info online... 50% of articles say its perfectly safe, while another 50% say it's not safe for your drain. I just need to clear one of our shower draina that is a little slow moving. what do you guys use for that?

Liquid Drano or snake it out with one of those things c-grin pictured above.

 

[PelliX]

If you have a pressure washer, there are also addons for this that you can attach. I've never used them, and I don't fancy the "backlash" if you go at a blocked toilet... but no chemicals involved...

 

[paul-e-mann]

Oh, and if you and your wife shave your heads you wont get shower drain clogs any more!

 

[G the wildman]

I fitted to traps to our shower waste outlets that you just pop the grill off, remove the lose fit trap and flush it through.

So easy I do it weekly.

G

 

[Purgasound]

If you've got a galvanized trap under the tub/shower then anything short of a replacement is just a band aid.
If you have a plastic trap then it's likely you just have a bunch of hair stuck on the grid part of the strainer.
Most of that liquid drain opener is just snake-oil designed to get money to flow freely from your wallet. There's a very good reason a plumber's van, especially a drain cleaner's van can have over $50K worth of tools on it and not a single jug of Draino.

 

[Derek S]

I use Liquid Plumber or something like it. Works great for minor blockages, ime.

Same here, only I use the version with the little crystals instead of the liquid, supposedly when it starts working it's physically eating away at the gunk better than the way the fluid does....but either way, that shit does work great for mild clogs/beard clippings, etc.

 

[Whizzercone]

If you have a clog in the bathroom and you have women in the house. The clog is above the drain and no drain cleaner will clear it.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

thanks so much for everyone's input. I really appreciate it a lot.

 

[LPMarshall hack]

As a plumber for 30 plus years you are wasting your time, you can use one of these if there is hair right at the drain.
View attachment 147327

But if you have a real clogged drain nothing but snaking or jetting it out will clear it.

What is that thing called?

 

[Lo-Tek]

...Most of that liquid drain opener is just snake-oil designed to get money to flow freely from your wallet. There's a very good reason a plumber's van, especially a drain cleaner's van can have over $50K worth of tools on it and not a single jug of Draino.

Nonsense, chemical cleaners work great on minor clogs. Helluva a lot cheaper than calling a plumber, easier too.

 

[vmathias]

I keep reading conflicting info online... 50% of articles say its perfectly safe, while another 50% say it's not safe for your drain. I just need to clear one of our shower draina that is a little slow moving. what do you guys use for that?

Been doing it for years.