How to unclog bathroom sink with baking soda

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Put 0.5 cups (8.0 US tbsp) of baking soda down the drain. Measure out 0.5 cups (8.0 US tbsp) of baking soda. Carefully empty the baking soda into your clogged drain. If your sink has a stopper, use a cotton swab to push all of the baking soda into the drain.[1] X Research source Go to source
- To keep the baking soda from sticking as you pour it, dry off the inside of your sink or tub with a rag beforehand.
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Pour 0.5 cups (120 ml) of white vinegar down the drain. Measure out 0.5 cups (8.0 US tbsp) of vinegar. Pour it into the drain slowly over the baking soda. This will cause a reaction between the two ingredients that should unclog your drain. [2] X Research source Go to source
- This reaction may not have an effect if your drain is clogged by hair.
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Cover the drain with a wet cloth for 5 minutes. Placing a wet cloth over the opening of the drain will seal in the baking soda and vinegar, making them more potent. Let the ingredients sit in the drain for a full 5 minutes. If you leave them for a briefer period of time they are unlikely to unclog your drain. [3] X Research source Go to source
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Pour a full pot or kettle of boiling water down the drain. During the 5 minutes when the baking soda and vinegar are sitting in your drain, boil water. After 5 minutes, remove the cloth covering the drain. Slowly pour the boiling water down the drain to wash away the baking soda, vinegar, and the remaining traces of the clog.[4] X Research source Go to source
- Avoid pouring the hot water too fast as it may splash back and burn you.
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Repeat the process if necessary. If baking soda and vinegar do not successful unclog your drain the first time you use them, feel free to try again. These natural ingredients won't harm your sinks or drains. It may take 2 or 3 tries for the reaction to successfully remove all of the buildup clogging your drains.[5] X Research source Go to source

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Pour 1 cup (16 US tbsp) of baking soda down the drain. Baking soda is effective enough to clean both bathroom and kitchen drains. For a regular drain cleaning, measure out 1 cup (16 US tbsp) of baking soda. Carefully sprinkle it into the drain. [6] X Research source Go to source
- Dry out the inside of your sinks or tub first to prevent the baking soda from sticking to them.
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Drizzle about 0.125 cups (2.00 US tbsp) of warm water over the baking soda. Moisten the baking soda to allow it to stick to the inside of the drain. After pouring the baking soda into the drain, carefully drizzle about 0.125 cups (2.00 US tbsp) on top of it. Do this slowly and gently enough to avoid washing the baking soda down the sink.[7] X Research source Go to source
- You can also moisten the baking soda with a fine mist of warm water from a spray bottle.
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Let the baking soda sit for 1 hour. To clean your drains effectively, baking soda will have to sit for at least 60 minutes to permeate dirt and other buildup. Set a timer for an hour to keep track of the time. Avoid using the sink or tub before then. [8] X Research source Go to source
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Run the water to flush the baking soda away. After an hour, turn on the tap. Run warm water down the drain for several minutes. This should be enough to flush away the baking soda and any debris it loosened from your drain. [9] X Research source Go to source
- Repeat this cleaning process on your drains once a week to avoid clogs.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 82,003 times.

Co-authors: 3

Updated: April 7, 2021

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Categories: Blocked Drains

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"Another great tip on something else you can use baking soda and vinegar on."

Want to naturally unclog a sink or clean a slow-moving drain? Learn why you should skip the baking soda and vinegar when cleaning FOG clogged drains and see the experiment!

This post uses affiliate links.They don’t cost you a thing and help us bring you all natural cleaning tutorials. Read more in Policies and Disclosures.

Hundreds of natural cleaning blog posts, books, and magazine columns recommend cleaning slow kitchen drains by pouring one cup of baking soda down the drain followed with one cup vinegar. I used this combination for many years then I began to doubt its effectiveness.

I decided to conduct an experiment to compare the drain cleaning abilities of vinegar & baking soda to another popular green cleaning solution -> dish detergent & hot water.

(Need to unclog a drain? Read How to Naturally Clean a Clogged Drain)

The Baking Soda and Vinegar Experiment

I conducted a simple experiment to compare two popular green cleaners when fighting a fat, oil, and grease drain clog (or FOG drain clog). FOG is the most common cause of slow drains and backup in home kitchens, learn more about FOG clogs.

Step 1 – I used a tablespoon of butter to mimic a greasy FOG drain clog.

Step 2 – I poured one-half cup of baking soda and one-half cup of vinegar into one bowl, and a cup of hot water (nearly boiling) mixed with 1 tablespoon of dish washing detergent into the second bowl.

Step 3 – I watched what happened to the greasy clog for 5 minutes. Here’s what the bowls looked like at 30 seconds.

The Green Cleaning Results

After 5 minutes, the greasy clog in the bowl of hot water and detergent was completely melted and would have easily drained away. The greasy clog in the bowl of vinegar and baking soda was unchanged (although it was coated in vinegar and baking soda).

Here’s what was left of the greasy FOG clogs (butter cubes) after the experiment.

What I Learned

It turns out my high school chemistry teacher was right… the fizzy combination of baking soda & vinegar is INEFFECTIVE when fighting grease clogged drains.

Why? Baking soda is a base while vinegar is an acid, their chemical reaction produces water with a tiny amount of salt in it, not a fat destroying drain cleaner. Plus vinegar and baking soda are not surfactants, so they do not help water carry oil and grease away the same way that detergents can.

The hot water does a better job melting the FOG clog and gets a kick from the degreasing power of the detergent.

What about the pressure created?

Lots of readers ask about the pressure created during the vinegar/baking soda reaction and wonder if it will force a drain clog out. The answer is yes and no.

- Yes, when baking soda and vinegar are combined the chemical reaction produces carbon dioxide gas (CO2 ) which creates pressure in a closed container.
- No, the baking soda/vinegar reaction created in a drain/household plumbing system does not take place in a closed system so pressure can’t build up enough to blast a clog out of the pipes.

You may have seen vinegar/baking soda experiment conducted in a closed container like a balloon or bottle. They’re an impressive demonstration of the power of chemical reactions. However, it’s important to note that these experiments take place in a sealed container where the CO2 gas has nowhere to escape.

A household drain system is not a sealed container. From kitchen drain to sewer your pipes hold a much larger volume of liquid or gas than a balloon or bottle, so it would take a lot more CO2 to fill the pipes to a point where pressure builds up. Plus, the CO2 being created byt the baking soda/vinegar reaction can escape though the plumbing vent system, holes in your drain or drain cover, and/or spaces in the clog. It’s not air tight!

The Hot Water Solution

Let me tell you a little secret: questioning the drain cleaning power of baking soda and vinegar is controversial. It gets people mad, very mad. I get emails and comments that are not appropriate to post on a PG website.

I’m sorry if you’re upset, I really am. I was a baking soda/vinegar devotee for a long time. However, once I started researching green cleaning ingredients and bad cleaner combinations I realized that the trick was not doing me much good… and I was wasting baking soda and vinegar that I could use to clean other things.

Maybe the fun chemical reaction tricks our minds with all the bubbling, maybe companies like to sell more of their products, or maybe it is the hot water.

- When you look at baking soda + vinegar drain cleaning instructions you’ll notice that they recommend following the baking soda/vinegar with nearly boiling water. As shown in the experiment above, extremely hot water does a great job melting FOG clogs.
- Bonus: the weight of the hot water creates pressure on the clog which can help loosen or move it (thanks to gravity).

Try the Experiment for Yourself

Still have doubts? The next time you have a slow or clogged drain, try reaching for hot water first. You may find out that it does a great job cutting through FOG clogs and you can save yourself some money on baking soda and vinegar

The Enzyme Solution

Have a difficult FOG clog that hot water doesn’t solve or a drain clogged by hair? Try an enzyme drain cleaner such as Earth Enzymes Drain Opener or Biokleen Drain Gel.

These eco-friendly drain cleaners contain enzymes and bacteria that eat through the organic material in the clog to clear your drain. (Green Gobbler Drain Clog Remover is another popular solution, it uses monosodium sulfate, a non-toxic acid, to remove drain gunk.)