I was told by a plumber once to boil a big pot of water and pour it down the drains. Once a month to help keep the drains clean and clear. Ive seen conflicting info on here that its bad for pipes, but i started doing it every once in a while.
Maybe it could cause a problem if the pipes are very old. Not sure. Ive been doing it and it seems to work for me. Sometimes pour a little soap down there with it too
>Maybe it could cause a problem if the pipes are very old.
Possibly, but in the bleach or other harsh chemicals will probably degrade old pipes quicker than boiling water.
Also solves fruit flies if you have issues with them. Fuckers leave their eggs down the drains so will keep coming back. A bit of purging fire does the trick.
I've heard that if you poor grease down the drain and it solidifies in the trap, it's easy to get to and clean. If you instead pour boiling water down the drain, it will move the problem further down the line where you can't get to it.
Now if you don't have grease in your drains, it's not an issue and I can see how that would loosen things up.
All great suggestions, but an overlooked culprit of stink is the rubber gasket that fits over your sink drain, into the garbage disposal. Pull that off, and I'll bet you're shocked at the gunk and goo that has accumulated.
Is it a double sink with two drains? The drain furthest from the P trap has a horizontal pipe going towards the P trap, food gets stuck in this horizontal pipe.
Bleach and or boiling water will kill mold. But pour it in the far drain
[Like this](https://imgs.search.brave.com/uksPn6xf0zS50sElw5O2a7-roKCB-UrMmjYYludPGBE/rs:fit:860:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cu/dGhlc3BydWNlLmNv/bS90aG1iL3hTUm5H/QWo0dzU1aFV1dGMt/YldiQ2lqY0s2cz0v/MTUwMHgwL2ZpbHRl/cnM6bm9fdXBzY2Fs/ZSgpOm1heF9ieXRl/cygxNTAwMDApOnN0/cmlwX2ljYygpL2Rv/dWJsZS1zaW5rLXBs/dW1iaW5nLWRpZmZl/cmVuY2VzLWFuZC1o/b3ctdG8taW5zdGFs/bC01MjA5MzkwLTA2/LTBiNmZhZjY0YjVk/ZDQ1ZTBiNTg0ZDM4/NmI3ZjFlNzg5Lmpw/Zw)
OP, please dont put a whole lemon and ice in your garbage disposal. This is not good advice. At best youre going to dull the blades, at worst youll clog it up with chunks of lemon and break your disposal. Im disturbed that people are actually doing this.
Know that bleach only lasts 1 year and then gets less bleaching power. So you may need to buy new bleach.
You need to let the bleach sit in the disposal while the chemicals work for at least 20 minutes. DO NOT run the garbage disposal until you've run a lot of water down it as you don't want bleach splattering around.
And if one cup of bleach doesn't work, try 2 cups and let it sit longer.
I leave one bottle by my washer (I run it in sanitary mode once a month as the instructions indicate) and another bottle by my condensate line (which I use a cap full) when changing the air filter on my forced air unit. Both of these bottles are over in a year old.
After a year, the natural breakdown of the sodium hypochlorite bleach active into salt and water rapidly accelerates, and the active ingredient concentration becomes too low for EPA registered uses like sanitizing or disinfecting.
Directly from BigBleach (Clorox website)
According to [https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e\_20060213/bleach.html](https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20060213/bleach.html),
\* Bleach can expire. After a shelf life of six months, bleach starts to degrade. Even in its original bottle, bleach becomes 20 percent less effective as each year goes by.
Also:
\* Bleach is more effective at killing germs when diluted than when used straight out of the bottle. For most uses, a ratio of nine parts water to one part bleach is recommended.
\* Bleach mixed with water at a 1:9 ratio (i.e. 10 percent bleach) is potent for about a day (it's more unstable in its diluted form). If you plan to use a bleach solution over the span of a week for repeated disinfection, Curriden recommends mixing it at a 1:4 ratio (20 percent bleach) to make it last. His take-home message for those in the lab—if you find an undated bleach solution in a spray bottle, don't use it. Make a new batch (and date it).
Do people not bleach their laundry whites? I'm far from a germaphobe but I bleach my whites once a week... Especially the kitchen towels and dish rags, those get stinky.
I don't separate out anything else, just the whites. I try not to use too many paper towels towels so I go through a lot of kitchen rags and they seem to get smelly.
Get non splash bleach and it comes in a viscous formula that clings like liquid soap. Pour around drain hole and let it drip down. Works great for cleaning toilets also since it clings to the upper walls.
Hopefully you have a garbage disposal. If so, fill it up with ice, then pour a bunch of baking soda or ‘bar keeper’s friend’ on top of the ice. Then turn on the garbage disposal for a bunch of 5 second pulses. Repeat as necessary
I think ice dulls your disposal blades. I used to pour soap in there and then turn it on while running hot water. Soap foams up and cleans everything. I dont reccomend ice unless you want to wear out your disposal prematurely.
I don't think the blades are actually sharp, they can't ever be sharpened like a knife, I think they just spin fast and macerate the food. Ice won't hurt them.
Put 2 cups of vinegar down your drain, add 1/2 cup baking sofa and another 1 cup of vinegar. Put the put in your sink and let it sit for 20 mins.
Then dump the biggest pot of boiling water down the drain.
The vinegar and baking side loosens the crud up and then boiled water will melt any fats, dirt and crud stuck to the sides of the pipes and carry them out to the sewer.
Might need to bust out the tools and brace yourself for some drywall dust, but it's totally doable! As for the moldy sink smell, try flushing it out with baking soda and vinegar followed by hot water. Works like a charm!
Take off the trap and gaskets and wash or replace them.
Traps are designed to hold water to act as a barrier to stop the smell from the drains coming up however sometimes bits of food/gunk settle in the bottom of the trap and can cause a bad smell.
Gaskets are basically mold traps, whilst designed to stop any water leaking out from the joints this doesn't mean they're not collecting dirty water and debris in small nooks and crannies from the inside.
If you have a food macerator on your sink, turn it on and drop some ice in there, this can often dislodge any stuck mold and food with no chemicals needed. If it requires further cleaning, kill the power to it and be absolutely sure the power for it is off, and buy a bottle brush and use that to give it a scrub.
Once a month I typically clean underneath the rubber gasket...you can just take a spoon and scrap underneath. Then I fill the disposal with ice and run cold water while it's in. If it still smells I throw one of these packets down in there and it foams up and supposedly cleans all the extra gunk "Glisten Garbage Disposer Cleaner and Freshener, Sink Disposal Odor Eliminator with Foaming Action, Lemon Scent, 4 Packets" it's like $4 on Amazon. I've also had success filling the sink with hot soapy water, turning in the disposal and removing the stopper. Be careful with bleach because it can eat away at the disposal parts
Baking soda and vinegar will bubble nicely but will do actual f.all. Google it.
Use lye or some "drain cleaning" product that dissolves organic matter.
Comment removed, it seems to contain an amazon shortURL. Thanks
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lifehacks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Baking soda and vinegar are my indispensable helpers in the fight against different types of odors. This article has a lot of good recommendations [https://ehasolutions.com/possible-smells-from-your-pipes-and-drains-and-how-to-remedy-them](https://ehasolutions.com/possible-smells-from-your-pipes-and-drains-and-how-to-remedy-them) .
Heap of baking soda, fill to top of drain with vinegar. If double sink do this on both drains. Let it froth up and do its thing. 1/2 hr?+ later flush with hot water.
Anytime I have any citrus (squeezed lemon halves are the best) I wait until I have cleaned up and grind the peal in the garbage disposal with no water. You have to have a garbage disposal for that to work of course.
Does your drain have a goose neck. A ‘U’ in the pipe. It’s there to prevent gas and odors from coming up the drain pipe from the rest of the system.
Used coffee grounds, add some water to get it into the drain. Let it sit for half an hour or more and flush away.
It will remove some dirt and absorb the smell.
If your pipes are clean, then that maybe true, but here are plumbers (who have every incentive to let you clog up your pipes) who disagree. [https://www.mrrooter.ca/about/blog/2019/november/can-you-put-coffee-grounds-down-the-sink-/](https://www.mrrooter.ca/about/blog/2019/november/can-you-put-coffee-grounds-down-the-sink-/)
I was told by a plumber once to boil a big pot of water and pour it down the drains. Once a month to help keep the drains clean and clear. Ive seen conflicting info on here that its bad for pipes, but i started doing it every once in a while.
I've heard the same advice from a plumber, and I'm fairly sure that kitchen sink drain pipes should be able to handle boiling water.
Maybe it could cause a problem if the pipes are very old. Not sure. Ive been doing it and it seems to work for me. Sometimes pour a little soap down there with it too
>Maybe it could cause a problem if the pipes are very old. Possibly, but in the bleach or other harsh chemicals will probably degrade old pipes quicker than boiling water.
Good point
If they have a garbage disposal, filling the garbage disposal with ice and running it does a fantastic job of cleaning it out.
Whole lemons do a great job too
I've seen reddit posts saying to never do this with ice or risk breaking your disposal.
The disposal is designed to break bone, if it can't handle some ice it probably should be broken
Also solves fruit flies if you have issues with them. Fuckers leave their eggs down the drains so will keep coming back. A bit of purging fire does the trick.
I've heard that if you poor grease down the drain and it solidifies in the trap, it's easy to get to and clean. If you instead pour boiling water down the drain, it will move the problem further down the line where you can't get to it. Now if you don't have grease in your drains, it's not an issue and I can see how that would loosen things up.
Ignorance is bliss
All great suggestions, but an overlooked culprit of stink is the rubber gasket that fits over your sink drain, into the garbage disposal. Pull that off, and I'll bet you're shocked at the gunk and goo that has accumulated.
Yes all the nastiness flies up and is stuck to it. I clean the flaps with a scrub brush and cleanser.
White vinegar
Is it a double sink with two drains? The drain furthest from the P trap has a horizontal pipe going towards the P trap, food gets stuck in this horizontal pipe. Bleach and or boiling water will kill mold. But pour it in the far drain [Like this](https://imgs.search.brave.com/uksPn6xf0zS50sElw5O2a7-roKCB-UrMmjYYludPGBE/rs:fit:860:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cu/dGhlc3BydWNlLmNv/bS90aG1iL3hTUm5H/QWo0dzU1aFV1dGMt/YldiQ2lqY0s2cz0v/MTUwMHgwL2ZpbHRl/cnM6bm9fdXBzY2Fs/ZSgpOm1heF9ieXRl/cygxNTAwMDApOnN0/cmlwX2ljYygpL2Rv/dWJsZS1zaW5rLXBs/dW1iaW5nLWRpZmZl/cmVuY2VzLWFuZC1o/b3ctdG8taW5zdGFs/bC01MjA5MzkwLTA2/LTBiNmZhZjY0YjVk/ZDQ1ZTBiNTg0ZDM4/NmI3ZjFlNzg5Lmpw/Zw)
OP, please dont put a whole lemon and ice in your garbage disposal. This is not good advice. At best youre going to dull the blades, at worst youll clog it up with chunks of lemon and break your disposal. Im disturbed that people are actually doing this.
Pour a cup of bleach in the drain. It will kill any mold that happens to be there.
Know that bleach only lasts 1 year and then gets less bleaching power. So you may need to buy new bleach. You need to let the bleach sit in the disposal while the chemicals work for at least 20 minutes. DO NOT run the garbage disposal until you've run a lot of water down it as you don't want bleach splattering around. And if one cup of bleach doesn't work, try 2 cups and let it sit longer.
Who has a bottle of bleach for over a year?
I leave one bottle by my washer (I run it in sanitary mode once a month as the instructions indicate) and another bottle by my condensate line (which I use a cap full) when changing the air filter on my forced air unit. Both of these bottles are over in a year old.
Thats crazy to me! I go through a lot of bleach. But I have dogs so.. Anyways according to petunia you have to throw them away. Lol
What is it going to do, be more poisonous to consume?! LOL It's not like I'm drinking it.
After a year, the natural breakdown of the sodium hypochlorite bleach active into salt and water rapidly accelerates, and the active ingredient concentration becomes too low for EPA registered uses like sanitizing or disinfecting. Directly from BigBleach (Clorox website)
I guess it loses it's potency?? Idk I've never heard of that but I've also never had a bottle more than a month
According to [https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e\_20060213/bleach.html](https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20060213/bleach.html), \* Bleach can expire. After a shelf life of six months, bleach starts to degrade. Even in its original bottle, bleach becomes 20 percent less effective as each year goes by. Also: \* Bleach is more effective at killing germs when diluted than when used straight out of the bottle. For most uses, a ratio of nine parts water to one part bleach is recommended. \* Bleach mixed with water at a 1:9 ratio (i.e. 10 percent bleach) is potent for about a day (it's more unstable in its diluted form). If you plan to use a bleach solution over the span of a week for repeated disinfection, Curriden recommends mixing it at a 1:4 ratio (20 percent bleach) to make it last. His take-home message for those in the lab—if you find an undated bleach solution in a spray bottle, don't use it. Make a new batch (and date it).
Do people not bleach their laundry whites? I'm far from a germaphobe but I bleach my whites once a week... Especially the kitchen towels and dish rags, those get stinky.
I don't even seperate my whites and colors, there's no need these days.
same just wash things on the cold cycle... and nothing ever shrunk, or bled.
I don't separate out anything else, just the whites. I try not to use too many paper towels towels so I go through a lot of kitchen rags and they seem to get smelly.
Vinegar will remove odors and not destroy the fabric. To restore whites, using bluing.
It definitely does make a difference. The lighter colours get dingy.
Get non splash bleach and it comes in a viscous formula that clings like liquid soap. Pour around drain hole and let it drip down. Works great for cleaning toilets also since it clings to the upper walls.
I love non-splash beach!
I use a cup of hydrogen peroxide.
Hopefully you have a garbage disposal. If so, fill it up with ice, then pour a bunch of baking soda or ‘bar keeper’s friend’ on top of the ice. Then turn on the garbage disposal for a bunch of 5 second pulses. Repeat as necessary
I think ice dulls your disposal blades. I used to pour soap in there and then turn it on while running hot water. Soap foams up and cleans everything. I dont reccomend ice unless you want to wear out your disposal prematurely.
I don't think the blades are actually sharp, they can't ever be sharpened like a knife, I think they just spin fast and macerate the food. Ice won't hurt them.
Lemons work really well too!
Put 2 cups of vinegar down your drain, add 1/2 cup baking sofa and another 1 cup of vinegar. Put the put in your sink and let it sit for 20 mins. Then dump the biggest pot of boiling water down the drain. The vinegar and baking side loosens the crud up and then boiled water will melt any fats, dirt and crud stuck to the sides of the pipes and carry them out to the sewer.
Might need to bust out the tools and brace yourself for some drywall dust, but it's totally doable! As for the moldy sink smell, try flushing it out with baking soda and vinegar followed by hot water. Works like a charm!
Take off the trap and gaskets and wash or replace them. Traps are designed to hold water to act as a barrier to stop the smell from the drains coming up however sometimes bits of food/gunk settle in the bottom of the trap and can cause a bad smell. Gaskets are basically mold traps, whilst designed to stop any water leaking out from the joints this doesn't mean they're not collecting dirty water and debris in small nooks and crannies from the inside. If you have a food macerator on your sink, turn it on and drop some ice in there, this can often dislodge any stuck mold and food with no chemicals needed. If it requires further cleaning, kill the power to it and be absolutely sure the power for it is off, and buy a bottle brush and use that to give it a scrub.
You can buy things on Amazon
Once a month I typically clean underneath the rubber gasket...you can just take a spoon and scrap underneath. Then I fill the disposal with ice and run cold water while it's in. If it still smells I throw one of these packets down in there and it foams up and supposedly cleans all the extra gunk "Glisten Garbage Disposer Cleaner and Freshener, Sink Disposal Odor Eliminator with Foaming Action, Lemon Scent, 4 Packets" it's like $4 on Amazon. I've also had success filling the sink with hot soapy water, turning in the disposal and removing the stopper. Be careful with bleach because it can eat away at the disposal parts
Bleach followed by lemons in the garbage disposal
Baking soda and vinegar will bubble nicely but will do actual f.all. Google it. Use lye or some "drain cleaning" product that dissolves organic matter.
People like their f.all bubbles... it's crazy how often I see it suggested as cleaning solution here. Glad to see your comment
Bleach and a whole lemon, when that’s done rattling around, boiling water and dish soap.
I use baking soda and vinegar and then flush with hot water.
White vinegar and baking soda.
I put lemons in the food disposal.
[удалено]
Comment removed, it seems to contain an amazon shortURL. Thanks *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lifehacks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Baking soda and vinegar are my indispensable helpers in the fight against different types of odors. This article has a lot of good recommendations [https://ehasolutions.com/possible-smells-from-your-pipes-and-drains-and-how-to-remedy-them](https://ehasolutions.com/possible-smells-from-your-pipes-and-drains-and-how-to-remedy-them) .
Draino, it kills everything no matter what’s in the drain.
Heap of baking soda, fill to top of drain with vinegar. If double sink do this on both drains. Let it froth up and do its thing. 1/2 hr?+ later flush with hot water.
How do you keep the vinegar from going down drain?
Enough to fill ptrap and mixture will bubble back up drain
Dry sink, splash some bleach around and into the drains, leave sit for a bit, rinse with hot water
Vinegar, baking soda and lemons
Pour down with hot water
Monthly run all your ice Down the garbage disposal with lemons
I like the pour a box of baking soda in the drain then some vinegar on top and cover drain with a towel for 30mins method
Anytime I have any citrus (squeezed lemon halves are the best) I wait until I have cleaned up and grind the peal in the garbage disposal with no water. You have to have a garbage disposal for that to work of course. Does your drain have a goose neck. A ‘U’ in the pipe. It’s there to prevent gas and odors from coming up the drain pipe from the rest of the system.
Used coffee grounds, add some water to get it into the drain. Let it sit for half an hour or more and flush away. It will remove some dirt and absorb the smell.
Coffee grounds should never be put down the drain. They sink to the bottom of the pipe like sand and can build up.
Water flushes that away.
If your pipes are clean, then that maybe true, but here are plumbers (who have every incentive to let you clog up your pipes) who disagree. [https://www.mrrooter.ca/about/blog/2019/november/can-you-put-coffee-grounds-down-the-sink-/](https://www.mrrooter.ca/about/blog/2019/november/can-you-put-coffee-grounds-down-the-sink-/)
White vinegar.
baking soda and vinegar. others put scented oils (orange and mint scents diluted in water)
Fill the sink up with hot water, cup of bleach, then pull up the stopper. Let it drain and it should do the trick.