Plumbing 
No Comments Tips on cleaning and sterilizing your drains
Keeping your drains clean and germ free naturally
Before you rush out to buy a bottle of drain cleaner consider these natural solutions to keeping your drains clean. Not only are they better on the environment but they are kinder to your plumbing system, and your wallet of course.
1. Use baking soda
Baking soda is a wonderful ingredient to keep in your house. All you need to do to clear your drains of all that stuff clogging them up is to pour half a cup of baking soda followed by half a cup of hot vinegar. Give it a few minutes then flush the whole lot down with a couple of cups of hot water. The baking soda vinegar combination dissolves away big chunks of food or hair that have been growing in your drains.
You can also use a cup of baking soda with half a cup of salt, pour down the drain and let it sit for some time. Leave it overnight if you can. In the morning you can flush the lot down with two cups of hot water.
If your drain hasn’t been cleaned in a while you might want to do either of these baking soda ‘flushes’ a couple of times to be extra sure you’ve eroded away all the accumulated debris.
2. Use vinegar
Vinegar is another useful ingredient to stock. Prevent grease from building up in your drains by using a vinegar and baking soda solution. Mix half a cup of each, pour down the drain, wait for an hour and flush with hot water. This also keeps your drains from smelling bad.
Vinegar can also be used to clean your sinks and taps by adding it to soapy water. The vinegar clears away built up grime in these areas.
Other things you could do to clean your drains
1. Run hot water through your drain on a regular basis. It will keep it free of mildew and bacterial build up and will take away any smells. Try doing this at least once every ten or so days.
2. One of the most natural and effective ways of cleaning your drain if there is a blockage somewhere, is by using pressure. The good old plunger is a plumbing staple and for good reason. In fact, this should be the first thing you reach for when you need to clear your drain.
Developing good habits
Just by building up a few good habits when it comes to your drains you can prevent anything else building up inside them.
1. Get and insert drain strainers in your kitchen sink and even shower drain hole. This is a once off purchase but will save you on lots of future hassles with clogged drains. These strainers catch all the bits of food before they can get down the drain to accumulate in nasty clumps of bacteria. They will also stop hair from going down your drain. Regularly cleaning out the drain strainer is so much easier than trying to clear a clogged drain.
2. Clean your sink and flush out the drains after each use. Simply run the hot water for a short while and you will be preventing bacteria and mildew build up with no effort at all.
3. Don’t come home to a bad smell in the house after a vacation. Just pour baking soda down the drain, don’t rinse, and leave it to work its magic. This stops any unpleasant odours that may develop in your absence. When you get back, flush it down with some hot water. Simple as that.
Cleaning your drains and keeping them bacteria free is actually really quite simple and easy. Just make sure you have a ready stock of baking soda and vinegar in the house and you will never have to face disgusting food, hair and bacterial build ups in your drains again.
About the author: Sam Bolton is a well known plumber in Birmingham who also installs new bathrooms and central heating systems.
For more information on plumbing go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbing