I have a chronic problem with slow drains and very hard water. I am planning to get a plumber in to snake everything but since I need every drain done this would be expensive. (4 bathrooms x average 2+ drains per bathroom[sinks and showers] x $300 per drain = a lot of money). I don’t want to use a chemical like Drano since I know that it can damage pipes as well as be dangerous if it sits in the pipe. The only way I have gotten my shower to drain is by using a wire hanger to chisel through the rock-like concretions in the drain and then used a zip-it which brought up what looked like chunks of plaster along with some hair clumps. The drain is still slow and I can still see standing water but at least I can take a shower without building up 3 inches of water that then takes over an hour to drain.
People have suggested a combination of baking soda and vinegar would help for hard water deposits inside pipes but even though I know that each alone is fairly benign, I don’t know what harm mixing the two can go (see for example, bleach and ammonia). Also every instruction I have read says to rinse afterward with boiling water. Is there a reason that the water has to be boiling hot? It’s really a pain to boil water and then carry a kettle up to the third floor. Would regular hot water do?