These results suggest that treating sink drains every 5 days with a hydrogen peroxide mixture would be ideal for healthcare facilities dealing with sink drain contamination.
Monthly Cleaning
The best way to avoid a clogged drain is to prevent it. Every month, use an enzyme drain cleaner to help break down any food particles or fats, oils, and grease (FOG) found in your pipes.
If hot water fails to clear your drain, use a mixture of vinegar and baking soda. Simply mix 1/3 cup of vinegar and 1/3 cup of baking soda in a measuring cup. When the mixture starts fizzing, immediately pour it down the drain. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, then flush it out with hot water.
You should schedule professional cleanings for your drains yearly even if they don't appear to need it and aren't blocked. In addition to annual professional cleaning for drains, maintain your drains weekly and monthly by performing certain care tasks.
Preventive drain cleaning conducted on a regular basis will prevent clogs from getting far enough along to completely block your drain pipes, maintain the efficiency of the system, and generally allow you quite a bit more peace of mind.
With time, baking soda and vinegar may work as a natural drain cleaner on weaker drain clogs, and the benefits of regular drain cleaning can help keep your drains free of clogs. But for tough drain clogs that need to be dissolved right away, you may want to use a stronger drain cleaner, like Liquid-Plumr.
It is not a great drain clog remover. Bleach has no effect in dissolving the common culprits of household drain clogs, like hair, food scraps and grease. Also, pouring bleach can harm the integrity of your drains and pipes.
Use a Natural Cleaner
Begin by pouring up to a whole box of baking soda down the drain, depending on the severity of the slime. Then pour in the vinegar, up to half a bottle. You should hear or see the fizzing. Let it react for about five minutes, then slowly pour the boiling water down the drain.
Vinegar is both safe and beneficial to pour down your drain. It acts as a natural cleaning solution and can remove blockages and harmful bacteria that cause foul odors.
The black stuff has many names, such as black sludge, bio-slime, and biofilm. The slime is a living organism made up of hair products, skin cells, body oils, food, toothpaste, hair, phlegm, and anything else that can stick to the walls of your bathroom drain.
Some people say weekly, bi-monthly or quarterly. However, we feel that cleaning your drains monthly should be sufficient to avoid major plumbing issues. A monthly cleaning will allow you to use safe cleaning methods which will save you time, energy and money in the long term.
Harsh chemical drain unclogging solutions can actually be abrasive enough to make your pipes leak after the clog is dissolved. Instead considering pouring a half bottle of white vinegar down your drain every three months to keep clogs from forming.
According to Stapf, you should always sanitize your sink after handling raw meat or poultry. "Wiping or rinsing these areas is not enough to kill any bacteria that may have spread around your kitchen while you were preparing your food," says Stapf.
Pouring boiling water is quite risky as it might lead to a steam burn or scalding. Another thing to keep in mind is what type of material you are pouring in into. If you have a porcelain sink, it is likely to crack due to the heat. All in all, pouring boiling water down your drain will only cause issues down the road.
Preventative Maintenance
Pouring bleach into the drain when the unit is not operating can leave residual bleach, which will damage the drain pan and line. Using vinegar for preventative maintenance throughout the year will keep your drain clean and clear and will not damage your line.
Vinegar may be a reliable natural disinfectant, but if you're looking for something with more of a kick, bleach may be the way to go. While it's not very safe for stainless steel, a bleach solution can be safe for your porcelain sink.
Using a snake is also more invasive and time-consuming than using a chemical cleaner is, and can often become a dirty job. When it comes to getting at and removing major clogs or clogs that are deep down in your pipes, however, a plumber's snake is your best bet.
Can you leave baking soda in the drain overnight? It is safe to leave baking soda (and vinegar) to work overnight to unclog a drain.
Both baking soda and vinegar are highly caustic. They are, in fact, able to dissolve certain materials that one would not normally think of as being dissolvable. However, the extreme amounts of acid in vinegar, along with its acidic nature, are what cause the drain to become blocked.
Other methods, such as hydro-jetting or using natural ingredients, are much safer. All-natural methods include creating a mixture of baking soda and vinegar or using boiling water. To learn how to naturally unclog a drain, check out our blog on the topic.