The short answer
Baking soda and vinegar won’t clear a clogged drain. On a drain in a Northern Virginia house that’s only a little slow, it can help, and it won’t hurt your pipes, but most of the help comes from the hot water you pour after it. The fizz looks like it’s working. It’s mostly the two of them canceling each other out.
What’s happening in the pipe
Baking soda is a base. Vinegar is a mild acid. Put them together and they react: the bubbles are carbon dioxide, and what’s left is mostly water with a little sodium acetate, a salt. That’s a weaker cleaner than either one was on its own. The foam can lift loose gunk off the pipe near the top of the drain, and that’s about it. Nothing in the reaction dissolves hair, and hair is what’s in most bathroom clogs. It doesn’t do much to grease in a kitchen line either.
And if the drain is fully stopped, the water standing in it dilutes the mix before it gets anywhere near the clog.
$99 Drain Clearing
This offer focuses on clearing a blockage up to the P-trap, the curved section of drainpipe beneath the sink where debris can collect. See the drain clearing
When it’s worth trying
A drain that’s a little slow, not stopped. A drain with a smell from the gunk in its top few inches. Or monthly upkeep on a drain that’s running fine. Here’s how to do it so it does the most it can:
- Run hot tap water down the drain for a minute.
- Pour in about half a cup of baking soda, then a cup of white vinegar.
- Put the stopper in or cover the drain, so the foam goes down instead of up.
- Wait 15 to 30 minutes. Overnight doesn’t make it stronger.
- Flush with a kettle of hot water. Hot, not boiling, if your drain pipes are white plastic.
What works better, and what each one is for
Swipe to see all columns →
Swipe to see all columns →
| Method | Good for | Not for |
|---|---|---|
| Baking soda and vinegar | A drain that’s a little slow, or smells | A stopped drain, hair, a toilet |
| Hot tap water and dish soap | Grease in a kitchen sink | Hair |
| Pulling the stopper and cleaning it | A slow bathroom sink | A clog in the wall |
| Barbed plastic drain strip | Hair in a tub, shower or bathroom sink | Kitchen drains |
| Cup plunger, overflow blocked | A stopped sink or tub | A drain with chemical cleaner in it |
| Cleaning out the P-trap | A clog right under the sink | A clog past the wall |
| Enzyme drain cleaner | Monthly upkeep on a clear drain | A clog you need gone today |
The stopper is the one people skip. Most bathroom sink stoppers lift straight out, or come out after you loosen the nut on the rod under the sink, and the hair is right there on the bottom of it (bathroom sink draining slowly). For a tub or shower, the barbed strip pulls out what a cup of vinegar never will (unclogging a shower drain).
If the clog is right under a sink, the P-trap comes apart by hand on most plastic traps: a bucket under it, unscrew the two slip nuts, empty it, rinse it, put it back. If it’s old metal and the nuts won’t turn, leave it, because old traps crack (what a P-trap is). Past the wall, it’s a drain snake (how to use a drain snake).
Enzyme cleaners use bacteria and enzymes that eat soap scum, grease and food residue over hours, not minutes. Pour one in at night on a drain that’s running fine and they keep it that way. They aren’t built to open a clog.
Mistakes to skip
Mixing it with anything else. If you’ve already poured a chemical drain cleaner, don’t add vinegar or anything else on top. Acids and caustic cleaners react, and it can boil up out of the drain. Vinegar and bleach together give off chlorine gas. (Is Drano bad for pipes?)
Boiling water in a toilet. The sudden heat can crack the porcelain bowl. For a toilet, use a flange plunger (how to unclog a toilet).
Boiling water down plastic pipe, every week. PVC drain pipe is rated for water up to about 140 degrees, and boiling is 212. One kettle won’t melt anything, but a habit of it is hard on the joints. The hottest tap water does the same job.
Plunging after you’ve poured something in. Whatever’s in the drain comes back up at you.
Calling it fixed because it fizzed. If the water still stands in the sink, it didn’t work. Twice is enough tries.
When to stop and call
Stop when water stands and won’t go down, when it’s slow again a week later, or when more than one drain is slow at the same time. That last one is the main line, and nothing poured from a sink reaches it (when a slow drain is worth fixing). Gurgling toilets or water in a basement floor drain means stop running water altogether (sewer backup in the basement).
SwiftPro’s $99 drain clearing covers one drain up to the P-trap. Deeper drain or main sewer-line work is a separate service, and we’ll give you that price before we start. One drain cleared farther in runs $200 to $800. If you’ve got a few slow drains and want someone to go through the whole house, a plumber does it for a flat $99: valves, drains and water pressure. There’s $50 off any plumbing repair over $400, and the whole-house plumbing inspection is included with any repair, a $149 value (every current deal).
Book it
Book the $99 drain clearing. Call (703) 997-9757, or book online from goswiftpro.com/cookiesoffer and a box of warm cookies comes with the visit. Our plumbers work in Centreville, Chantilly, South Riding, Sterling and across Northern Virginia, 24 hours a day. Rated 5.0 stars across 1,138 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook, Virginia Class A license 2705192276.
Questions people ask
Does baking soda and vinegar unclog a drain?
Not a real clog. The fizz is mostly the two neutralizing each other. On a drain that’s only a little slow, it plus a hot water flush can loosen light buildup near the top. It won’t dissolve hair.
How long should I leave baking soda and vinegar in a drain?
15 to 30 minutes with the drain covered, then flush with hot water. Leaving it overnight doesn’t make it stronger.
Can baking soda and vinegar damage pipes?
No. It’s mild on PVC, metal pipe and septic systems. The boiling water people pour after it is the part to be careful with, on plastic pipe and in a toilet.
Can I use baking soda and vinegar after Drano?
No. Don’t add anything to a drain that has chemical cleaner in it. If it’s draining, flush it with plenty of water. If it isn’t, tell the plumber what you poured before they open it.
