Vinegar is both safe and beneficial to pour down your drain. It acts as a natural cleaning solution and can remove blockages and harmful bacteria that cause foul odors.
Both baking soda and vinegar are highly caustic. They are, in fact, able to dissolve certain materials that one would not normally think of as being dissolvable. However, the extreme amounts of acid in vinegar, along with its acidic nature, are what cause the drain to become blocked.
Pour about 1 cup of vinegar down your drain and let it sit for 30-40 minutes. Vinegar has a very high acid content (which is why it's great on soap scum) and it will break down a good bit of the organic content that is stuck.
Baking Soda and Vinegar
Baking soda is a base and vinegar is an acid; when the two are combined, you get a fizzy chemical reaction that has some properties that can eat away at a clog. However, when you use this combination to unclog a drain, it's just plain ineffective.
Use a natural drain cleaner.
Mix together 1 cup of vinegar (distilled white vinegar works best) and 1 cup of baking soda. First, pour boiling water down the drain to loosen; then follow with the baking soda-vinegar mixture and wait 15 minutes. Rinse with more boiling water.
Leave it in the drain for an hour or two or overnight, and then flush the drain with hot tap water. For larger drains, such as tubs and kitchen sinks, use about a quarter-cup of baking soda, a half-cup of water to move the powder down, and 2 cups of vinegar.
This can help prevent clog-causing buildup on the interior surface of pipes. Or you can pour one cup of vinegar down the drain and let it sit for 30 minutes, followed by a rinse with two quarts of very hot water.
Baking Soda + Salt
Mix 1/2 cup table salt and 1/2 cup baking soda together, and pour down drain. Let sit for about 30 minutes (or overnight if it's a tough clog).
If your drain is clogged with hair, baking soda can dissolve hair in a drain. To try this safe and easy method at home - first, pour a cup of baking soda down the drain. Then pour a cup of vinegar (white vinegar) down. Allow the mixture to sit for several minutes.
Boiling water poured into the drain is a quick cleanser for minor odors. A baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water combo can add extra power for breaking up the buildup in your drain's pipes. Periodically adding baking soda down your drain can keep the sink fresh and odor-free.
Baking soda and vinegar is a marvelous cleaning agent, and when dumped into a clogged toilet, often will break up the clog without you having to do a thing. This is what you want to do: combine two cups hot water with two cups white vinegar.
Pouring boiling water is quite risky as it might lead to a steam burn or scalding. Another thing to keep in mind is what type of material you are pouring in into. If you have a porcelain sink, it is likely to crack due to the heat. All in all, pouring boiling water down your drain will only cause issues down the road.
The answer is that vinegar will not harm your pipes if used in small doses as recommended in many of the recipes that you find online. No matter what your pipes are made of, pex, pvc, copper, etc. Vinegar will not harm your water pipes.
Vinegar may be the better choice for bad smells as it has gentle cleaning properties that water lacks. Run hot tap water for several seconds, and then turn the water off. Dump one cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by two cups of hot vinegar. Let the concoction fizz.
For stubborn clogs: baking soda, salt, and vinegar
To clean your drain with baking soda, salt and vinegar, mix half a cup of baking soda with half a cup of salt and pour the mixture down the drain. Boil 1 cup of vinegar and pour it down the drain — the combination will cause a fizzy and bubbly chemical reaction.
While the phosphoric acid found in cola can help alleviate some minor clogs, carbonated beverages are certainly not the ideal drain cleaner. Better DIY methods include a baking soda/vinegar mixture, a plunger, or a plumber's snake.
For a stubborn clog, try pouring a cup of baking soda and a half cup of salt down the drain and let the mixture stay in the drain overnight before flushing it with two cups of boiling water. The good news is these natural methods will not harm your pipes nor the environment.
Try Using Boiling Water to Fix a Clogged Sink
Most clogs in sinks and tubs are due to a combination of hair, grease, soap residue, and tepid water that are trapped in the drain trap right below the drain opening. If you have metal pipes, you can try to loosen the clog with hot water—very hot.
Although mixing vinegar and baking soda is not considered dangerous, you should still avoid mixing these in a container. Vinegar is acidic and basic soda is basic, so the by-products are sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water that are not toxic.
Vinegar is definitely the easier of the two to rinse out of the drain line. Bleach should not be used for drain lines that are made of PVC or ABS plastic. Chlorine bleach eats away at not only the line but the glue and cement joining the line to the fittings and the condensation pan.
Do You Have to Rinse after Cleaning with Vinegar? Rinsing is not necessary! If you're simply using a vinegar and water solution to wipe and disinfect, you won't need to rinse. However, if there's also plenty of dirt and grime you're wiping away, you may also want to rinse with some extra water.
Vinegar is a very safe liquid and can be easily disposed of. It does however have high acidity which can affect some materials and surfaces. But when disposing you can simply pour it down the drain. If you want to be extra cautious you could also dilute it with water.
For simple clogs or regular cleanings, warm water and dish soap often does the trick. To use this method, heat a few gallons of water in a pot, then let it cool for about two minutes. Mix in a few drops of dish soap, then pour it down the drain.