Does anyone have a homemade drain cleaner recipe?

[JRF]

For years I have read articles for homemade drain cleaners that you periodically place down a drain to keep it in good condition, however I didn't save any of the recipes. Does anyone have a good drain cleaner recipe? Thanks.

[egon]

If you are trying to remove organic material caustic soda will work.

Note: Handle very carefully as it also works well on living flesh.

Egon

[jimmoore]

Yes.
Once a week put 2 tablespoons of baking soda in the drain and then pour in one half cup of vinagar. Works great for me! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[BillG49]

I found this article, and I'm going to try one or two of these ideas.

[Pat]

The original post didn't say anything about unstopping a plugged drain so I assume it is routine preventative maint that is being discussed. Why is drain cleaner needed. I have never done routine preventative maint for drains and have always succeeded in unstopping any blockage, however persistent. We exercise some care in what goes down the drain. No animal fats that aren't in suspension (with soap) as on cooling they
"plate out" on the pipes.

Soda and vinegar. They mostly cancell (acid and base) with a lot of foaming and outgassing of carbon dioxide. I suppose if after duming in the vinegar you put in the stopper, the pressure would dislodge a mild clog. As a preventative I think it is mostly a placebo.

Lye is great for clearing clogs of bio-materials if you have a sewar system but I would be careful what I put in a septic system.

Running really hot water for a while can help melt grease and flush it away.

For clogs, I tend to prefer trying first to blow the clog out with pressure (not good on old weak pipes unless you want to find and replace the weakest sections). If that fails, I escolate to mechanical methods, i.e. snakes. When I was on city sewar I would try drain cleaner chemicals but I avoid them on septic systems.

If you ever design or build a home, allow for easily accessed cleanouts for all the drains. Idnore any advice to the contrary that is based on cost or wishful thinking about how you'll NEVER need them. One use of a cleanout to clear a drain can justify the cost of several cleanout fittings.

Enzyme based drain cleaners that are approved for septic use are the exception in my personal arsenal. They can be used for preventative maint but I wouldn't use them routinely (due to cost) unless I had identified a specific recuring problem with a drain AND the enzyme approach worked for that drain.

Most septic "Boosters" and drain cleaners just aren't needed and are not money well spent. Joe will say he put a spoonfull of Red Star yeast in his drain every week to keep the septic sweet and had no problems for 20 years. Likey he would have had the same results if he had done nothing. Very few statistically significant tests are performed on any of the snake oil, commercial or home brew, that is touted for drains and septic systems.

Do a search on septic and drains and elliminate all the advertisements. Read reports from university extension services and the like. You'll find that most of what is offered in the market place or concocted by our aunt's neighbor's cousin isn't needed.

Patrick