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Bathroom stinks!! How can I remove the trap? poured water in but no luck. Zoomed inside the grate to find this? What is it?
(files.catbox.moe)
grate - https://files.catbox.moe/ipp8l0.jpg
Inside grate- https://files.catbox.moe/ilcueh.jpg
You want that in a drain though: the chemical reaction causes a great deal of foaming and agitation, which clears shit off the inside of the pipe.
The PH you end up with also retards fruit flies and other nasties.
Normally mixing bicarb and vinegar is an exercise in stupidity, sure - but not in the case of drains
I worry that bicarb+vinegar may have become a cultural phenomenon because it looks and sounds satisfying, not because of actual measured and compared effectiveness.
Is it more effective than pouring hot water down the drain? I thought the foaming and agitation was quite gentle.
If you're not controlling the mix then everyone will end up with a different PH. Some neutral-ish,, some acidic (bad), some alkaline (and possibly only minorly so, the NaHCO3 might create a buffer, not sure).
Here's the REAL trick: Jam the plug in immediately after the vinegar and hold it down. So all that foaming is directed downwards, including the pressure. It's not enough pressure to blow out a pipe, but it is enough to clear stank out (more importantly, it agitates what's in the trap and a sluice afterwards will also voom out anything caught in the curve)
fruit fly larvae are pretty sensitive to salinity and ph changes, so it doesn't matter how wild and free you go with the mix, btw.
It's fun when you mix it in a wine bottle and shoot the cork at your mate.
The stronger the vinegar the better when it cones to drain clearing. The chemical used to stop black and white photo development is acetic acid, which is the acid component of vinegar, plus an ingredient that turns purple when the ph goes too basic for it to work as photo stop. If you have a totally clogged drain and you pack some baking soda on top, then follow it up with concentrated photo stop you get a pipe clearing monster that beaches white foam that gradually turns purple.
Commercial chemical pipe cleaning products don't foam that way. They are a strong base (opposite of acid) that creates bubbles as the clog material is chemically reduced.
You would also get bubbles by using vinegar and waiting. As the vinegar acid breaks down the clog, you get bubbles.
Putting baking soda in with the vinegar destroys it before it can work.
No one is using baking soda and vinegar to unclog drains, nor are we talking about this application. We are talking about using it to deodorise
Salt water does not deodorize. Baking soda alone can do it as can vinegar. Mixing them is the same as pouring water with a tiny bit of salt in the drain.
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