Home/natural remedy for SLOW drain?

[ha98ed14]

Bathtub. It's not clogged yet, but it needs a good flushing. I don't want to use liquid plummer/draino. Any recs? TIA!

[lalasmama]

Baking soda and vinegar is usually my "just a little slow" go-to.

However, in our house, clogged tub drain always ends up with something heavy-duty.

[MommyAllison]

Zip it! http://zipitclean.com/ It was about $3 at the hardware store here.

[jbbhb]

Zip it! http://zipitclean.com/ It was about $3 at the hardware store here.

:yeahthat: it's gross, but works fantastically.

[HannaAddict]

A plumbers snake versus pouring something down the drain.

[roseyloxs]

A plumber taught my mom this trick.

Uninstall the cap that covers the overflow hole. Wet a wash cloth or towel and stuff it into the overflow hole. Fill the tub with a few inches of water. Remove any cover you might have on the drain. Use a plunger and a bunch of icky stuff will probably come up. Make sure it doesn't go back down the drain.

I use this on our kitchen sink and it works great on the drain.
http://www.citrasolv.com/drain.html

[Smillow]

Zip it! http://zipitclean.com/ It was about $3 at the hardware store here.

:yeahthat: What I was going to post!

:yeahthat: it's gross, but works fantastically.
:yeahthat: Our chronically slow drain has been fine every since I used this a year ago!

[wendibird22]

I take apart the drain cover (cap twists off and then use a screwdriver to remove the inner mechanism) and then pull the gunk out. Sooooo gross. But our drain, where the cover screws in, has a metal X post and hair and gunk gets hung up on that X of metal. No amount of unclogger (natural or draino) gets rid of it because that stuff flows past it (enough space) and therefore doesn't dissolve it. It's not a real clog but enough build up to cause slow draining. Once I pull the crap out, it's sooooo much better. That said, not a job for someone with a low gag tolerance because it's sooooo gross.

[hellokitty]

Be careful with the BS and vinegar combo. We tried that and two of our pipes started leaking under the sink afterwards...

[karstmama]

my mama heard to put a scoop or two of regular tide, then pour on a pot of boiling water. especially good for hair clogs, supposedly. she got this from a salon owner.

[daniele_ut]

Zip it! http://zipitclean.com/ It was about $3 at the hardware store here.

I could film a commercial for these things. My post partum hair loss this time was out of control and our tub drain had slowed to a crawl. The Zip it took about 15 seconds and you would NOT believe what I pulled out. I have a picture, but it's nasty!

[newnana]

Agree with all the zipitclean recs. While I have a very high gag tolerance, this makes me ill every time. oh. lordy. just thinking about it I'm getting sick....ewwww!

[vonfirmath]

Baking soda and vinegar is usually my "just a little slow" go-to.

However, in our house, clogged tub drain always ends up with something heavy-duty.

After you get all the hair out of the drain, you need to put a "cap" over the drain hole to prevent more hair from going down and getting stuck. We use an upside down kitchen strainer. Then just clean the hair off the top of that.

[123LuckyMom]

I'll second wendibird22. Actually clean out the drain. Don't just pour something down it!

[gatorsmom]

We are zip it fans too. It's cheap and effective. And earth friendly.

[newnana]

After you get all the hair out of the drain, you need to put a "cap" over the drain hole to prevent more hair from going down and getting stuck. We use an upside down kitchen strainer. Then just clean the hair off the top of that.

Well now that's just genius. Never heard of anyone doing that. Thanks!

[vonfirmath]

Well now that's just genius. Never heard of anyone doing that. Thanks!

My mother paid $130 for a plumber to come out when her drain was not draining water at all (on her BIRTHDAY! as she stresses everytime she tells the story). And she asked him how she could prevent it and he suggested this. So we have all been doing it ever since.

ETA: http://www.amazon.com/LDR-501-3340-Stainless-Strainer/dp/B001FRRRQM/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1344959719&sr=8-9&keywords=kitchen+strainer <-- this is what I'm talking about. For a shower, just leave it over. For a bath, you don't have it in during the bath but when you pull out the plug to let the water out, put the strainer on top afterward.

[trcy]

This is what works for me:
http://www.ehow.com/way_5153038_homemade-drain-cleaner.html

[niccig]

I tried the zip it and it didn't work on our bath drain. The drain design is such that the zip it has to go in through the overflow cover that's half way up the tub, so the zip it doesn't reach as far down. I ended up going with draino to clear the clog and now I do the baking soda/vinegar every so often to keep it clear. I will though buy a mesh strainer, a brillant idea.

[wendmatt]

My mother paid $130 for a plumber to come out when her drain was not draining water at all (on her BIRTHDAY! as she stresses everytime she tells the story). And she asked him how she could prevent it and he suggested this. So we have all been doing it ever since.

ETA: http://www.amazon.com/LDR-501-3340-Stainless-Strainer/dp/B001FRRRQM/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1344959719&sr=8-9&keywords=kitchen+strainer <-- this is what I'm talking about. For a shower, just leave it over. For a bath, you don't have it in during the bath but when you pull out the plug to let the water out, put the strainer on top afterward.

They have them in home depot pretty cheap. I have to use one in my bathroom sink as my hair used to clog it up. I had to take off the pull up thingy that shuts the plughole and remove the metal lift up plug, but I didn't use it anyways. Highly recommend it, the gross hair that gets pulled out is ugh!

[vonfirmath]

They have them in home depot pretty cheap. I have to use one in my bathroom sink as my hair used to clog it up. I had to take off the pull up thingy that shuts the plughole and remove the metal lift up plug, but I didn't use it anyways. Highly recommend it, the gross hair that gets pulled out is ugh!

Yeah. The advantage of the one I linked is that it is tall enough to go over the pull up thingy, etc so you can still use them!

Our last place didn't have those, just open holes that you put a flat mat over to keep shut and we could use the more traditional strainers in those.

[BabbyO]

We had a slow clog in our bathroom drain and after pulling out as much hair & gook as I could it still was slow. I couldn't use the plunger on it because the faucet was in the way. I kept thinking..."If only I had a smaller plunger." And that is when I figured it out.

I got an old turkey baster and pulled the bulb off. Then I plugged the overflow hole on the sink an used the baster bulb to plunge the sink...worked like a charm.

I've since gotten a new turkey baster for the kitchen! :)

[kmak]

When I was a teenager and would leave half-drank diet coke cans sitting around, my mom would just poor them down the sink and shower drains. I had long hair and drains would run slow a lot. The coke just ate the hair right out!

Makes you think twice about drinking coke again though.