Cleaning drains with baking soda and vinegar has been accepted as a DIY remedy for many years. There are multiple articles about the use of baking soda and vinegar, and videos as well. Did you ever wonder if it really works to clear out blocked drains, or speed up slow drains? Well here at Balkan we wondered the same things, does it really work? We decided to make our 6th video about sewer myth of facts devoted to trying to clear out a drain blockage using these two common household ingredients.
Myth or Fact: Cleaning Drains With Baking Soda and Vinegar
Dave Balkan: Hi, this is part 6 of the Balkan video challenge Sewer Fact or Myth. Folks out there, I see the videos all the time, that baking soda and vinegar cleans out clogged drains. Christina, do you think that that actually works?
Christina: I don’t know, I never tried it, I think we should try it. I am doubtful.
Dave Balkan: For those of us that have never seen this before live, I’ve never seen this before, this is a little baking soda. This is a little vinegar. What – whoa look what happens! That foams up like crazy, and that was only a little bit. Still foaming up.
Christina: But we’re gonna find out very soon if it works.
Dave Balkan: So the first thing we’re gonna do, is we gonna have to make a clog that a homeowner might have, right?
Christina: Yes. So what do these folks put down their drain?
Dave Balkan: Coffee grounds, maybe they get some dirt in their drain, hair.
Christina: I’ve had that experience.
Dave Balkan: I’m not a redhead by the way.
Christina: How about grease?
Dave Balkan: Oh you know what , you’re so smart. She is pretty smart. So, uh, butter is grease, right? Because you folks
put all sorts of things down your drain.
Christina: What a mess!
Dave Balkan: I want to make sure we have a clog to do this experiment, here on Sewer Fact or Myth.
Christina: We sure do have a clog.
The Verdict On Cleaning Drains With Baking Soda And Vinegar
Dave Balkan: Now according to you folks out there, many of you, and all these videos on YouTube cleaning drains with baking soda and vinegar actually works. Here we go, let’s try it. What do you think?
Christina: I think it’s going to be a minor explosion. Maybe I’ll keep my safety glasses on.
Dave Balkan: Let’s see how it works. First you put in a bunch of baking soda, a bunch of baking soda, right. Then we add the vinegar. I’ll even give this two shots if it doesn’t work.
Christina: Vinegar, I hear it, I hear a lot of fizzing.
Dave Balkan: But is it all that’s going to do is fizz? Did it clean clog?
Christina: No it did not. No it did
not all, right?
Dave Balkan: Look we’re going to put more, because maybe more will work. A lot more. Now we’re going to add pressure, because maybe that’s the missing ingredient to vinegar and baking soda. So we’re going to close this
end, right. I’m going to add more down here, a lot more. Holy cow, it’s the whole box and the vinegar.
Christina: You hear that? Wow.
Baking Soda & Vinegar Sewer Myth or Fact? …Myth!
Dave Balkan: We still have to add more water. I’m going to really give this a legitimate shot. Now we still have a clog. So what do you think, fact or myth?
Christina: It’s a myth for sure.
Dave Balkan: Now I’m going to introduce one of our Balkan drain techs to see how he does with our specialty air gun. This is the air gun that we use to clean some of the drains that we go out on.
Riando: First we assess the blockage to see what kind of pipe it is. You pump it up to the amount of pressure that you want. Depending on the pipe, that’s how much pressure you put. Yeah, it all depends on the pipe. Then you stick it into the drain, where the access point for the drain is. So in this case what I’m going to do is, I don’t want to have to get anything splashed back, I’m going to use a little rag to cover the hole then we’re gonna pump it through.
Christina: Oh, we got something!
Riando: All right, so this is the flush bag that we use instead of the air sometimes. You attach it to a water hose. You place it inside of the pipe. This is a 2″ pipe. It inflates up to 4″, so you stick it in as far as it will go. And then you open the water.
Christina: Oh it’s unclogged! There goes your red hair! After this experiment what do you think?
Sometimes a Professional Drain Cleaner is Your Best Bet
Dave Balkan: It seems like you can have a lot of foaming, and all of this action, but there’s really nothing happening. That didn’t clear the drain out. You know sometimes you need a professional drain cleaner. So, when you’re dealing with slow and clogged drains, you just gotta call a pro sometimes.
Christina: And not believe myths about cleaning drains with baking soda and vinegar.
Dave Balkan: That’s right!
Christina: So I believe, I think we should just save the baking soda and the vinegar for volcano science projects for the kids!
The Balkan Drain Team is The Team You Trust
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