Help me unclog my drain without draino

kristin172429

My tub drain is draining sooooo slowly.  I do not want to buy draino and pour such harsh chemicals down the drain.  I'm getting desperate.  Other than calling a plumber, is there anything else I can do?  Who has an eco-friendly drain declogger??  

gakester8

throw a bunch of baking soda around it, then pour ~1/2 cup vinegar down the drain, wait a bit for the bubbling to go on and then pour a tea kettle full of boiling water down it. sometimes I have to do that a few times. GL!

dosafyre

Go to home depot and buy a small drain snake (its cheap and you'll use it repeatedly). It's likely a hair clog in your drain, and I find that neither drain-o nor baking soda can break that down, but you can manually fish it out.  

FreshBakedBrownies

I usually can get a lot out using a long skinny hemostat to reach in and pull out hair clumps. (I'm a vet and have some old hemostats at home from vet school. Maybe some sort of skinny pliers would work just as well?). Anyhow, it seems to help my drain run better than when I have used Draino.

JJEM98

I'll second all the manual removal posts... my husband just had to clear one of our drains recently (luckily a sink drain so he had easy access to it) and as gross as it is he says using a snake or pliers and removing the gunk is really the best way.  We've done the baking soda/hot water trick when the drain is running slow but it usually just buys a little time, doesn't clear the clog completely.

JMarie725

dosafyre:

Go to home depot and buy a small drain snake (its cheap and you'll use it repeatedly). It's likely a hair clog in your drain, and I find that neither drain-o nor baking soda can break that down, but you can manually fish it out.  

This. We just had to use it the other day for the 100th time and it never fails. lol.

Tara0604

We use Earthworm Family-Safe Drain Cleaner. it's 100% natural and works well. We use it once every couple of weeks to keep our drains clean. We have also used it for stubborn clogs, following the directions on the bottle. You basically pour it in at night after everyone is finished showering for the day and then it will work it's magic. I buy it at bed, bath and beyond with coupons (because you can use expired ones, too!), but here is a link so you can see what the bottle looks like.

https://store.veganessentials.com/earthworm-family-safe-100-natural-drain-cleaner-p2610.aspx

 HTH

Edit: sorry it's not a clicky, can't figure how to do that yet :-

CatnipTrinket

My drain seems to be conspiring against me. I've tried baking soda and vinegar several times, and it hasn't worked. It works for everything else and always has, but it just won't work on my bathtub drain! I'm gonna try a drain snake next, but I'm getting worried I'm gonna have to break down and use Drano eventually.