I haven’t tried this one myself, but a science major told me that the acidic level of cola drinks can help unclog drains.
I doubt it would be as effective as most commercial products, but would it be effective at all?
I doubt it. I don’t think that soda is as acidic as household bleach, vinegar or even lemon juice. I occasionally throw a lemon down there to ‘freshen the bowl’ if nothing else.
- Bleach is basic, not acidic.
2)Good ol’ Snopes to the rescue on the rest.
Nice link Gaspode.
Seems as though the carbonic acid in soda drinks CAN have an effect, but I imagine that many would not consider it “effective”.
By way of a follow up consider the following.
Most blocked drains are the result of a mess of solidified fats combined with something like hair that it can congeal on, according to my plumber friend. Fats are already acid by definition and aren’t dissolved all that well by other acids. Strong acids would certainly move the mess, but if they were strong enough to digest either the hair or the fat responsible then God help any metal pipes are joins that they come in contact with. I doubt carbonic acid, a weak acid, in any concentration would have any appreciable effect on a drain blockage and there’s a chance the sugar in Coke would just make the matter worse.
Common drain cleaners like Drano etc. are just caustic soda, a strong base, and work fairly well on dissolving fat.
Thanks for clarifying.
The snopes link didn’t seem to directly address clearing drains. It mostly just seemed to say that the acidic properties of coke are overrated by many urban legends.