A homemade drain cleaner starts looking pretty appealing when the sink is taking forever to empty – but you’re not quite at the ‘call a plumber’ stage just yet. Maybe you don’t have a bottle of drain cleaner in the cupboard. Maybe you don’t particularly want to pour one down your pipes. Or maybe spending money on something you can make from what’s already in the kitchen seems unnecessary, especially with the cost of absolutely everything so high these days.
And fair enough. For a mildly clogged or slow drain, a natural drain cleaner can sometimes shift grease, soap residue and the softer gunk building up inside the pipe.
But the important word there is ‘sometimes’. Because these recipes aren’t going to dissolve a solid mass of hair, or remove an object from a trap – or somehow deal with a damaged sewer line. But for the right kind of blockage, they’re cheap, simple and absolutely worth trying before escalating things.
Just a couple of quick rules before we start:
- Don’t mix any of these recipes with bleach or a commercial chemical drain cleaner that may already be sitting in the pipe.
- And when we say ‘hot water’, very hot tap water is usually enough. Pouring a rolling kettle of boiling water into PVC pipework isn’t a great idea.
So with that sorted, here are the 5 recipes actually worth knowing.
1. Dish soap & hot water
Start with the easiest one because, for a slow kitchen sink, it may be all you need.
Kitchen drains gradually collect fats, oils and grease. They might go down the sink as liquids, but as they cool inside the pipe they can cling to the walls and collect other debris. Dishwashing liquid is designed to deal with grease, while hot water helps soften and move it.
You’ll need:
- 2-3 tablespoons of ordinary dishwashing liquid
- Around 1-2 litres of very hot water.
Then:
- Pour the dishwashing liquid straight into the drain.
- Leave it for around five minutes.
- Slowly follow it with the hot water.
- Give the drain another flush with hot tap water a few minutes later.
This is particularly useful when the kitchen sink is draining just noticeably more slowly than it used to.
If the problem is hair in a shower or bathroom basin, though, move on. Dish soap can lubricate things a little, but it isn’t going to make a big glob or hair disappear.
2. Baking soda & white vinegar
Yes, this is the one everybody knows.
When you’re doing your drain cleaner homemade searches, you’ve almost certainly come across baking soda and vinegar. The fizz is satisfying and can help disturb light grime and residue around the drain, although it’s worth keeping expectations sensible. The two ingredients react with one another, so this isn’t some secretly industrial-strength drain cleaner hiding in your pantry.
For a lightly clogged or smelly drain, however, it’s a reasonable place to start.
You’ll need:
- Quarter cup baking soda
- 1 cup white vinegar
- Hot water
Then:
- Remove as much standing water from the sink as you reasonably can.
- Tip the baking soda directly into the drain.
- Slowly pour in the vinegar.
- Cover the drain with the plug if possible.
- Leave it for around 15-20 minutes.
- Flush thoroughly with hot water.
This homemade drain cleaner recipe is better suited to slow drains and light organic build-up than a completely blocked pipe.
And don’t keep repeating it six times because nothing happened the first time. If there’s no noticeable improvement after one or two attempts, the blockage probably needs something more than fizz.
3. Baking soda & salt
This one is less dramatic but useful when you suspect there’s a layer of general grime sitting inside a slowly draining pipe.
Salt gives the mixture a little grit, while baking soda can help loosen residue and deal with drain odours. It works best when the drain is still flowing rather than holding a sink full of water.
You’ll need:
- Half cup baking soda
- Half a cup table salt
- Plenty of hot water.
Then:
- Mix the salt and baking soda together.
- Pour the dry mixture down the drain.
- Leave it for at least 30 minutes (overnight is fine for a stubborn slow drain).
- Flush it thoroughly with hot water the next morning.
But note: This is more of a slow-drain and maintenance option than an emergency unblocker.
It can be handy in bathroom basins where soap, toothpaste and general residue have gradually narrowed the pathway. It won’t do much for a dense plug of hair, which usually needs to be physically removed.
4. A homemade drain cleaner without baking soda
No baking soda in the cupboard? You can still try something useful.
For a greasy kitchen drain, salt, dish soap and hot water make a straightforward homemade drain cleaner without baking soda. There’s nothing particularly clever going on here: the soap targets grease, the hot water softens it, and the salt can help disturb softer deposits.
You’ll need:
- A quarter cup of salt
- 2-3 tablespoons dishwashing liquid
- 1-2 litres of hot water.
Then:
- Pour the salt into the drain.
- Add the dishwashing liquid.
- Leave both for around 5 minutes.
- Slowly pour in the hot water.
- Let it sit briefly, then run the hot tap to finish the flush.
This is another one aimed mainly at kitchen build-up.
If your sink suddenly became completely blocked after washing dishes, there may be a lump of food or another obstruction sitting in the trap. No pantry mixture is especially good at negotiating with a huge chunk of lodged potato.
5. Baking soda & lemon juice
Our final one for today earns its place for drains that are more unpleasant than properly blocked.
You see, the lemon juice may be natural but it’s also really acidic, so it reacts with baking soda in much the same way vinegar does. It can help with light residue, but its strongest use is freshening a drain that has started producing that stale, vaguely suspicious smell between uses.
You’ll need:
- Half cup baking soda
- Around 1 cup lemon juice
- Hot water.
Then:
- Pour the baking soda down the drain.
- Add the lemon juice gradually.
- Leave the mixture for 10-15 minutes.
- Finish with a generous hot-water flush.
It’s quite useful for light build-up and odours, particularly as an occasional clean. If the smell comes back quickly, however, don’t keep trying to perfume the problem away. Persistent drain smells can point to trapped waste or a drainage issue – or another more serious plumbing problem that needs investigating.
So, what is the best homemade drain cleaner?
The answer depends on what is actually slowing the drain.
- For kitchen grease, the best homemade drain cleaner is often the least complicated: dish soap and hot water.
- For general light build-up, baking soda with either vinegar or salt is worth a try.
- For smells, the baking soda and lemon option can freshen things up while dealing with minor residue.
What none of them does particularly well is remove a physical obstruction, like:
- Hair
- Wipes
- Food scraps
- Foreign objects
- Tree roots
- Serious build-up.
These sorts of things usually need to be physically cleared. A blockage that keeps returning also deserves more attention because the clog you can see may only be the symptom.
When the kitchen cupboard has done enough
Trying a home remedy on a mildly slow drain makes sense. But trying every single recipe on this page, then inventing another three because the water still hasn’t moved, probably doesn’t make a lot of sense anymore.
Is your drain:
- Still badly blocked?
- Backing up again shortly after clearing?
- Making repeated gurgling noises – or several drains in the house are slowing at once?
It’s time to find out what is actually happening inside the pipe, don’t you think?
S&J Plumbing and Gasfitting clears blocked drains across Brisbane, with experienced plumbers who can diagnose the cause rather than simply attacking the symptom. With same-day service available, 24/7 emergency plumbing and fixed upfront pricing, you’ll know what needs doing before the work starts.
So give the homemade option a fair shot. If the drain still refuses to cooperate, call S&J and let our friendly team take it from there.