Why You Should Throw Salt Down the Drain at Night - Plumbing Shooter (2023)

A clogged or slow sink, bathtub, toilet or any other drain is quite frustrating to deal with, to say the least. Unsightly clogs will require you to call a plumber to clean them out, which is not cheap.

And that's where the salt comes in. Table salt can be used to unclog drains, but it's best to use it to prevent clogs from forming in the first place. Just pour a spoonful of this cheap, dirty product overnight and you'll have hardly any clogged drains.

That may sound like a bold statement until you try it. If you have an oily or stained surface, sprinkle on salt and scrub with a soft-bristled brush. The salt will help break up the stain, just as it loosens clogs in drains.

When used alone or combined with baking soda and vinegar, salt breaks down fats, oils, and grease in drains, making them easily run down the drain. In addition to cleaning drains, salt is also very effective at getting rid of drain flies, killing 2 birds with one stone.

While salt will help prevent clogs in all drains, it is best suited for your kitchen sink drain, where fats, oils, and grease are found in large quantities. The shower/bathtub drain is another area where salt will prove effective.

What makes salt pour down the drain at night?

All the drains in your home are designed with a P-trap. A P-trap is a U-shaped curve just below the drain opening, which also looks like an inverted P.

If you want to see a P-trap, look under the kitchen/bathroom sink or on the side of the toilet. However, you cannot see the shower/tub p-trap because it is hidden, but it looks like the one in the sink cabinet.

The P-trap has 2 main functions:

• Due to its shape, it allows a constant amount of water to be kept there at all times. The water acts as a barrier, preventing sewer gases from going up the drain and using the vent instead. as long as you have onesewer smellin your kitchen or bathroom, one of the P-traps is empty.
• Catches potential drain clogs, preventing them from clogging the drain further away, where it would be more difficult to unclog.

Any time you have a clogged drain (a drain with standing water or a slow-draining device), the problem is usually with the P-trap. Cleaning the P-trap will cause your device to drain as it should.

When you pour salt down the drain, the salt settles in the P-trap, where it immediately begins to unclog the clog. If it weren't for the P-trap, the salt would just flow down the dedicated drain and into the sewer lines.

The good thing about using salt to unclog drains is that it is sepsis safe and will have no effect on the microbes in your septic tank. Unlike a drain snake and chemical drain cleaners like bleach, salt does not harm your pipes in any way.

How it helps to unclog drains

Like I said, the main reason to pour salt down your drains and leave it overnight is not to clear clogged drains, but to prevent clogs from occurring. It is always easier to prevent clogs than to deal with one.

To do this, it is enough to pour a tablespoon (or even 2) of common salt down the drain and leave it overnight. For best results, start by running hot water down the drain for about 20-30 seconds.

The hot water will not only melt and remove some of the grease and grease, but it will also replace the cold water in the trap. The hot water in the trap will dissolve the salt better, making it easier for the sludge to break down in the trap.

In the morning when you wake up, pour hot water (about a gallon) down the drain. The water will wash away the already broken down dirt, leaving your drains clean and odor free.

If it is a completely clogged valve orslow drain device, you will need more energy to clear the clog. To do this, incorporate baking soda and vinegar into the mixture.

If you have standing water on your equipment, you will need to drain it first. The objective is that the mixture acts directly on the mud and does not dissolve in a large amount of water, reducing its effectiveness. You can scoop out the water with a glass or suck it up with a vacuum cleaner.

Once your accessories are exhausted, you're ready to go. This is how you do it:

• Pour half a cup of salt water down the drain.
• Follow it up with a cup full of baking soda.
• Slowly pour 1 cup of vinegar down the drain, as it will react quickly with the baking soda.
• Let the solution work its magic overnight.
• In the morning, run hot water down the drain to wash out all the broken gunk. Never use boiling water on a porcelain fixture or one with a plastic drain. Boiling water will cause porcelain to crack and warp or loosen PVC pipes.

How do I keep my drains clean?

As we already started, keeping drains clean is easier than unclogging them. While pouring salt down the drain at night will help prevent clogs, there are other methods to prevent clogs and keep drains clear at all times.

Different drains in your homes are clogged by different things and therefore there is no specific answer for all drains. Let's look at all the most common ones.

With your kitchen sink drain, you want to avoid putting grease, oils, and grease (FOG) down the drain. FOGs are quite sticky, and when they drain down the sink, combine with other organic matter to form a drain line clog or trap, which not only clogs the drain, but also stinks.

Running hot water down your kitchen sink every time you pour something other than water will help melt and remove sticky gunk, leaving your drain clean.

When it comes to bathroom drains, the number one cause of clogs is toilet paper. Excessive and thick use of toilet paper results in a ball of toilet paper in the siphon or drain pipe, meaning the toilet cannot drain.

Use (and teach your children) to use as little toilet paper as possible. A double-ply toilet paper is also less likely to cause clogs than a triple-ply toilet paper.

If you want to completely eliminate the use of toilet paper in your home, consider installing a bidet. The best bidet to install is an electronic toilet seat, which comes with a dryer, which means you won't need to use toilet paper to dry off after cleaning.

See also the list ofitems that should not be flushed down the toilet. In the meantime, ask your children to never go to the bathroom with their toys. Almost every plumber has pulled a toy out of the bathroom drain.

To keep your shower/bathtub drain clean, consider installing a hair trap in your shower drain. Most shower/tub clogs are caused by hairballs collecting in the drain trap. A shower drain hair catcher is easy to install and will save you a lot of headache.

In addition to the preventative measures above, pouring a cup of baking soda followed by an equal amount of vinegar down the drain from time to time will help dissolve and break up mud and grime in drains while also making drains cleaner. have a fresh smell.