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 losen 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
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. 🙂
Check out more of my homemade recipes >>> here.
Thank you! It worked! And it worked just as well as drano!
I have tried the vinegar and baking soda on my shower drain. It does nothing. The only thing that works is Crystal lye,and boiling water, regardless of the instructions to use cold water. The lye eats hair,soap and other junk. Vinegar does so little it is a waste of time to use
I used the above and it helped but didn’t work completely. I turned on both shower jets so the water would back up and then plunged it with a toilet plunger. That did the trick. Our shower had never drained so well as it does now. The clog was loosened but the plunger flushed the remnants away.
Have you ever tried Cola, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper Amazing!
My cousin is a plumber, and he says within time the coke will eat thru the pipes,he asked me not to do that
Coke shouldn’t be used for anything other than cleaning car batteries…
Or consumed only if proper amount of sterilizing liquid added (i.e. about 1.5 ounces of rum to 6 ounces of Coke)
Colas and other sodas have phosphoric acid, read the label, you’ll never drink the stuff again!
Don’t use it on your car battery… It will mess up your computer….
When I was in home ec class some years ago we did a coke and tooth experiment. The teacher put a tooth in a bottle of coke. The soda eventually ate away at the tooth until is was pretty much nothing.
I tried this on a shower which pooled up instantly whenever in use. Upon removing the little grate over the drain with a flathead screwdriver I pulled out a large tangle of hair and flushed it, then followed the steps posted here and now the shower is draining normally.
Thanks a bunch!
You may want to toss the hair clumps in the garbage next time otherwise you’ll end up clogging the toilet, TRUST ME lol
I put my baking soda in a squirt bottle(like the ketchup bottles in restaurant) with the small nozzle, I can really get my baking soda down in the small opening of my drain.
Brilliant idea!
Also, a turkey baster works wonders. You can suck it out of the contain and squirt it into the drain.
hello, my name is Stacy……. My daughter has long hair so now my bathroom sink is clogged, but I can’t get the stopper out, guess it don’t come out lol how do I pour the baking soda down there….
Most likely the stopper is attached inside the pipe below the sink. It should unscrew from the back of the pipe. Before doing that put a bucket under the pipe, water will come out. Then you can pull out the wire that holds the stopper in place. You can pull out the stopper and then put the wire and everything back and then use the drain cleaner. Or you can remove the u-bend of the pipe and clean it out then re-attach. Make sure you get all the hair that is caught on the stopper. I raised 3 daughters all with long hair(me too), so I learned how to do this long ago.
Baking soda is cheap yet has many use. I did this using vinegar instead of lemon juice and it worked. Thanks for the post.
I’m so proud of myself for unclogging my bathroom sink! Thanks for a great post.
FYI – learn from my mistake – when removing that little bar that holds the stopper you leave a hole in the pipe. Plug this up (probably by putting the bar back after you get the stopper off) or you’ll have a puddle of water, vinegar, etc under your sink.
Always put a small bucket under the plumbing pipes to catch any water!
Many years ago when water pipes were metal, a plumber told me to use old fashioned washing soda to clear drains and sweeten them.
You put as much washing soda (which has the consistency of fine sand) down the drain hole to fill it. Follow with boiling water.
I think most houses have PVC pipes for outlets these days so maybe use water that’s just off the boil.
I still use washing soda and boiling water, never had a problem.
Yeah I agree the DIY method may have worked, but the plunger idea was most useful…..
I’ve been doing this for years. It works like a charm and no harsh chemical smell.
Pvc dwv pipe is rated for 140 degree water. Boiling water will not hurt the pipes as it only gets to 100 degrees.
100 degrees centigrade is boiling point of water but it is 212 degrees Farenheit that water boils at, and pvc pipe is not rated above 100 degrees Farrnheit, boiling water will melt plastic pipes!!
Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius. The U.S. uses the Fahrenheit scale. 140 celsius equals 284 degrees Fahrenheit, so please don’t use boiling water in PVC pipes.
How do you drain pasta then?
how do you drain pasta
Drano is simply lye, sodium nitrate, salt and aluminum. All natural ingredients, no “scary chemicals” and I’m not even sure what toxins are.
Exactly. People get all bent out of shape about being all natural when things are already all natural. Caustic things can be all natural. Soap is made from lye. However. Baking soda and vinegar do work wonders on a bathtub drain.
This worked perfectly. I didn’t have time to wait the 30minutes so I just waited for the vinegar to go down and flushed it with hot water and it worked like a charm! Also just used apple cider vinegar as it was all I had on hand. Thanks so much.
Use the old baking soda from the fridge.
I have an old house and my bathroom tub drain is curved, any one have advice on how to get the backing soda down a drain that runs flat rather than straight down?
Can this DYI solution be used as a preventative method say every six months? I just bought mt first home n would like ways to naturally clean since i have very bad allergies and sensitive skin.
I do this at least once a month before a clog. Only baking soda and vinegar. Takes away orders too.
Hi! Does it matter if the baking soda is fresh or expired? Even better if the latter. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing. This is the best way to unclog a sink drain. Not only is it very easy it’s also safe.
I would have liked this to work but it didn’t. It actually made it worse. Maybe mine was just too clogged.
It didn’t work for me either.
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.
How is water free? Unless you have a well on your property, you still pay the city for water from your faucet.
I have a badly clogged sink in my kitchen that did not respond to this method.. I want to tear my hair out at how many things that say will work and does NOT. All the liquid uncloggers do not work either.
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!
A very interesting article, thanks a lot!