Green Way to Unclog Drains + Other Ideas

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By Don Dunning | March 7, 2009

Yesterday morning, as I was finishing up my shower, the pan started filling with water. It occurred to me it could be either a sewer line backup (bad news), or a simple case of too much goopy stuff in the shower drain.

I eliminated the sewer line as the culprit since we have replaced the lateral (for more info on this (see “Sewer Line Blues”). Fortunately, it turned out to be only a clogged shower drain. In this type of situation, I did the most logical thing – I called my wife, Sonia, and asked her to handle it. She knew exactly what to do.

Her solution was to first wait for the water to recede. She then poured one-half cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a half cup of white vinegar. The stuff bubbled up like a mini-volcano, so, for safety, she covered the drain with a cloth. After letting it stand for 30 minutes, she flushed with one quart boiling water. Success! If this hadn’t worked the first go-around, she could have repeated the application.

Flush with success (couldn’t help the pun), I asked Sonia if she knows of any online sites for green approaches to various household problems. She sent me to eco-cycle.org, a fabulous resource for green cleaners, other clogged drain recipes, recycling tips and much more. The specific page for alternative cleaners is http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm