Unclog A Popup Bathtub Drain ~ Naturally

I am really happy to be sharing how to naturally unclog a tub drain with you today. Yup, thrilled in fact. Which gave me the motivation to get through how to present this topic in a readable way. Honestly why would anyone (OK female) pick such a topic for a blog post? Grin.. read on my friends.

Our tub has been draining slow and getting slower over time. I thought we may have a drain issue in the outside pipes. Our house is 62 years old and there are a few things that can go bad on old piping especially if its galvanized pipes. This type of issue is really expensive to fix by the way 🙁  Old houses bring expensive fixes right? Well I’m very relieved to say not this time~ sigh of relief/smile.

OK, back to slow tub drains. Do you have a slow tub drain? Chances are you can probably fix it yourself. Don’t spend the money on the plumber if you don’t have to. Save that $$ for those killer shoes you just found!

First you’ll need to narrow down that this is the issue. How? Well glad you asked. Here are a few symptoms that will help you determine if you only have a clogged drain.

If you only notice the tub is draining slowly and have no other symptoms such as:  having to use a  plunger on the toilet more often lately, noticing everything in the bathroom seems to be draining slower lately, see a bubble come up when you flush the toilet. Chances are you only have a clogged tub drain.

Alrighty then, lets get to it. For the drain cleaner you’ll need:

2 Gallons of boiling water

1/2 cup of baking soda

1 cup white vinegar

1. Take the drain cover off. For a pop-up type darin you’ll need to put the drain in the popped up position. Turn the top of the drain cover to your left. Remember lefty loosey, righty tighty. Really.. it’s the goofiest things that stay with us. The top will unscrew from the base in the tub. You may have to pull the top up while unscrewing the entire assembly.

2. Clean out the clogged the drain with needle nose pliers or tweezers. Most likely you’ll find hair and a soapy oily mixture…and in my case maybe an earring that happened to be the missing one from one of my favorite pairs! I think that’s what started the entire mess..err clog in the first place. Lesson learned. No more showers with earrings on.

3. Here’s where you flush your pipes with the natural drain cleaner. This will work really well on other drains, especially cleaning out kitchen sink garbage disposals.

Pour the boiling water down the drain. Immediately follow with the baking soda and then the vinegar. It will immediately fizz up. Cover the drain hole and let sit. The fizzing reaction will help break up body oils and other stuff clinging to the inside of the drain pipes further down. Let sit for about  30 minutes. Rinse out by pouring another 1 gallon of boiling water down the drain.

4. Screw the top of the drain cap back into the tub.

Its that simple. Our shower doesn’t drain slow anymore.

And the earring? My missing earring from a few months ago was probably what started the clog in the first place. It came it out with no damage. Those were my favorite earrings; I wore them all the time and still had the other one. In the end I saved the cost of the plumber and got my favorite pair of earrings back… Gotta love that!

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