Got a Clogged Drain? How to Clear it with Baking Soda

LESLIE: Leonard in Alaska, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we do for you?

LEONARD: I was wondering what the remedy was or the ingredients for a plugged sewer line. Not plugged but, you know, partially plugged.

TOM: Do you know where in the line it’s plugged, Leonard?

LEONARD: Not for sure, no; just – well actually it’s not plugged. It’s just draining slower.

TOM: OK, so we’re talking about the waste pipe like from your sink?

LEONARD: Yeah, from the shower.

TOM: Leonard, what you need to do is take a half a cup of baking soda and a half a cup of white vinegar; pour that down the drain together then wait about 15 minutes and then follow that up with some boiling water.

LESLIE: You know and if you just boil some water in a teakettle and then bring that right to the bath and dump that down then – you’ll be really careful with it though because you don’t want to hurt yourself. And also, if you’ve used a commercial drain cleaner, give it a good day before you go ahead and do this homemade concoction because the two can mix and cause some fumes that won’t make you feel so great. So give it some time if you’ve just done a commercial product. But the homemade remedy really does the trick.

LEONARD: Very good.

TOM: That should do it.

LEONARD: Well, thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Leonard. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.