Keeping your drains unclogged and free of foul smells is easy with this hack, which uses two staple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen cupboards
When a drain becomes clogged it can lead to a whole set of other problems – not just a bad smell and slow drainage. If left untreated, a blocked drain can affect your whole plumbing system, and lead to bacterial growth due to stagnant water.
The best thing to prevent this happening is to unclog your drains regularly, on a weekly or monthly basis. And you don’t need to splash out on an expensive cleaning product that specifically claims to unclog your drains.
You can easily create something similar at home using products you likely already have lying in the cupboards. According to Get’er Done Cleaning Services, “a monthly cleaning will allow you to use safe cleaning methods which will save you time, energy and money in the long term”.
In a recent TikTok, on their account @geterdonecleaning, they recommend combining one cup of white vinegar, one cup of very hot water, and one cup of baking soda. In the video, the savvy cleaner could be seen putting a cup of baking soda directly into the plug, before adding a cup of white vinegar – making it fizz. Then, she covers it with a cloth. After letting it sit a while, she then pours hot water down the sink – and the water can be seen running freely.
In the comment section people were thankful for the tip, with one person saying: “I just did this the other day and it works,” and another added: “Ohhh I love this! Gonna try it tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, another added: “A sweet, friendly plumber told me this about 40 years ago. It is a cheap, foolproof way to keep pipes clean.”
A similar method is also approved by Wickes, who first recommended flushing boiling water from the kettle down the drain. Then, mix 240ml of boiling water with 240ml of vinegar in a measuring jug. Next, add 120g of baking soda into the mix, and pour it down the drain. According to the experts, this should ‘foam up inside your drainage pipes and clear the blockage’. They recommend letting the mixture sit for an hour before running the hot tap for up to a minute.