Did you know you could create your own homemade drano? Well, it’s not really like drano because drano is full of a lot of scary chemicals and toxins, but it can get the clog out of backed up sinks and tubs like drano, and I think that is pretty awesome.
Last week, my tub decided it did not want to drain for me. I thought about going to the store to buy something to fix the clogged drain, but instead, decided to create my own solution (this doesn’t sound like me at all, wink wink) and it surprisingly turned out to be quite an easy task. My tub that took 15 minutes the night before to drain, now drained in 3 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. All this time I had been using those harsh chemicals, when I could have been using simple and safe ingredients to make my own.
My Homemade Drano Recipe uses safe all natural ingredients, unlike the store bought stuff which is full of scary chemicals. I love that it uses ingredients that I always have on hand, and is still effective. Are you ready to find out how to unclog a drain the natural simple way? Lets get to it.
My DIY Homemade Drano Recipe
1 cup baking soda
1 cup lemon juice or vinegar
boiling water
First make sure water is drained from tub or sink. If it is slow draining, just be patient and wait for all the water to drain.
Remove any drain plugs or stoppers from the tub or sink. You want an opening big enough so you can really get the solution down the drain.
Next pour boiling water down the drain to help loosen up any gunk. Let water drain again.
Next pour baking soda down drain. This was by far the hardest and most time consuming part. Try your hardest to get all of the baking soda down there. Use a funnel if you have to!
Next slowly pour in the lemon juice, and also vinegar works just as good! The lemon juice will cause a reaction with the baking soda and this will result in some fizzing and bubbling action. Cover the drain with a cloth, or tub stopper so that the baking soda can work. We don’t want it to come up, we want it to break up the clog down below.
Leave the cloth or drain plug for 30 minutes. During this time the foaming action will be breaking down the clog.
After 30 minutes, uncover the drain and very slowly pour more boiling water down to flush the clog out. If you have plastic piping, it is best to avoid boiling water and instead use very hot water.
Depending on how stubborn of a clog you have, you may need to repeat the process a few times, but it should work if you follow these steps. If you’re still having troubles it may be time to humble yourself and call the plumber. 🙂
Lemon Juice-.48
Baking soda-.31
Water- FreeTotal Cost-$0.79
A 32 oz. bottle of Drano cost about $4.00 at Walmart and my homemade version is only pennies! So yes, it is definitely worth the cost, and time to make. I love that it uses products that I already have in my kitchen, which means I don’t have to take an extra trip to the store. Plus, I don’t feel like I am going to die a horrible death from breathing in nasty chemicals and toxins. I love that this recipe is safe to use around my kids!
Instructions
Check out more of my homemade recipes >>> here.
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Y2mate Official says
This DIY Drano recipe worked wonders for my clogged sink! I love how simple and effective it is compared to store-bought solutions. Thank you for sharing!
Steve Weinstein says
I used this and it worked beautifully. Thank you.
Steve says
Not only cheaper but a whole better for the environment.
Christina says
Worked for me as well. Only, I read it wrong and boiled 1 cup of lemon with 1 cup of vinegar. Put baking soda + a little bit of water. Then took the boiling combination and poured it over the baking soda. It cleared it right up! I had a slow drain, though, so not clogged. Still, wow. Thank you! 🙂
Christy says
Thank you so much! I do not like using things like Drano so this is a great alternative, I’m using it in my kitchen sinks to keep them running in top condition. The comments on here are embarrassing to the human race, I’m sorry for that. Keep up the good work, I look at your recipes for alternatives often.
JD says
Worked after 3 doses! Wahoo!
Shirley says
My clog wasn’t anything substantial but I also had a smell starting. As far as I can tell the sink runs a little faster and the smell is gone. For me, it worked.
Terry says
Anyone who knows anything about science knows what a fraud this is! An acid and an alkali neutralize each other. The foam is just show. The boiling water by itself is more effective than that crap!
Linda says
Well ok then Einstein! You don’t have to be so rude. Move on!
DJ says
The chemical reaction between any acids and bases creates Carbon Dioxide and a form of salt water (maybe not Sodium Chloride salt, but some sort of ionic bond dissolved in water) The carbon dioxide bubbles manually scrub out and expand any clogs. So yes, eventually the baking soda and vinegar will neutralize, but while those are reacting, the clogs will be pushed down or away. The foam is what clears the clog! It will not dissolve hair or soap scum like Drain-o, but it may help loosen any gunk blocking water from flowing in the piping.
Laura says
Wow, I’m sorry people are so thoughtless with their comments on your helpful recipe.
gay says
really works for me
Craig says
Where do you know of that vinegar occurs “naturally” in the wild?
Rebekah says
I mean, lemon juice does. Vinegar is just an alternative.
Kiki says
Lmao, acetic acid (concentrated vinegar) is a very common biochemical molecule found in insect defenses, which is often derived by a symbiosis with bacteria (genera Acetobacter and Gluconacetobacter) that converts compounds in their food into acetic acid. This is just ONE example. Vinegar is very natural 🙂 nice try tho!
Donna says
Does this work for toilets too
Angela says
Just tried this and it worked well. Thank you!
Wendy says
I do this with the vinegar. Works very well.
I don’t put boiling water in 1st. May try that next time.
david says
A very interesting article, thanks a lot!
Harvey says
I have done this for a long time, not sure where I read about this before…possibly some handy-man magazine or something. 🙂
I have seen some suggesting not to use boiling water for fear of damaging pipes.
To avoid the possible pipe damage, I did use a small pot of water, but as i heated it up on the stove, i poured it down the drain just as “bubbles” that had formed on the side of the pot started to release. This made it hotter than my water heater, yet not really boiling yet, so (hopefully) no damage to the pipes.
I also used vinegar instead of lemon juice, but that is only a preference/availability issue…as both facilitate the same “bubbling” result to break up the clog. The rest I did exactly as was described here, and it worked like a charm.
Good luck!
Dajester says
How is water free? Unless you have a well on your property, you still pay the city for water from your faucet.
Mary B Brown says
Give me a break, I admit water isn’t free, but let me tell you, At the age of 10, I walked 3/4 of a mile ( one way) to carry a bucket of water home, from the fresh water spring, for drinking and cooking every day in the summer after the closest spring dried up. I also carried a bucket of water every day for an elderly man, who needed fresh water every day, He gave me a dollar when he got his Old Age Pension check, kinda like a SS check, back in the day. No, we did not have a car, or a mule, I can’t even think of any one giving a damn about a gallon of water to unclog their drains. unless they don’t have any. I can’t but wonder how someone like you would do , if you had to walk a mile and a half for water to drink, water for your dish washer, automatic washer, shower, and flushing your toilet.
Milly says
I tried your method, but as I worked, I realized a flaw. I use diluted baking soda shampoo and diluted vinegar conditioner. Apparently my hair should have dissolved by now and I should never have a clogged shower drain. Since neither of those have happened, I’m going to say this method does not magically get rid of hair. It probably does get rid of other grim we’ll though (hence why i’m using it on my hair).
I ended up securing an anchor to long tweezers with a rubber band (didn’t want to lose the tweezers!). I got a ton of hair out with the extra depth. Now it drains well.
Ricki says
My entire family has long hair so this is often a problem. Could you email me a picture of how you assembled this? Thanks so much.
rickilsmith97@gmail.com
Betrice says
I am an older woman and my hair is where I can sit on it. My daughter also had long hair down to her waist when she lived with us. It was an adventure to keep things running free but I stumbled on a system that really worked for me. My mom came to stay with us from out of state after having an operation that required stitches. Since she was not with her regular physician when the stitches were to come out, a physician friend offered to do the honors. He came with a kit that included special scissors that grab on and hold onto thread. The tip ends are skinny and have horizontal ridges inside to grip and a locking system in between the handle to make sure it holds tight. They are small enough to side into the tub drain and pull everything up. Sometimes it is a bit of a challenge to have the glob pass up the crossbars of the drain but you just have to go at it from a different side. Once you figure out how to work with the tool, the whole process is less than 5 minutes! Keep them under the bathroom sink with the Comet and other cleaning supplies. Now mine are stainless steel but I have seen them at Harbor Freight for less than $10. Its the perfect solution.
Stephanie Liddle says
I would have liked this to work but it didn’t. It actually made it worse. Maybe mine was just too clogged.
Kevin Szabo jr says
Thank you for sharing. This is the best way to unclog a sink drain. Not only is it very easy it’s also safe.