What do these online ads say about “pouring salt down the drain tonight”? We have previously reported on advertisements indicating the effectiveness of pouring detergent into toilets, tubs, and sinks. Dish soap, along with water heated to a low to medium temperature, can potentially help remove common and minor household clogs.
A misleading advertisement.
“Pour salt down your drain tonight, here’s why,” read an advertisement in December 2020, although it may have been shown for the first time long before that. Readers who clicked the ad were directed to a 31-page slideshow on The Delite website. This story neither contained the same picture of salt being poured down a drain, nor any tip about pouring salt down a drain at night before bed.
We looked at whether licensed plumbers recommend pouring salt down the sewer at night or at all. As we mentioned in our dish soap story, pouring boiling water down the sewer system can be dangerous. Several Twitter users have learned this the hard way.
Red Lilly Plumbing posted tips on clogging drains, and the company’s advice included mentions of salt. The Los Angeles-based licensed plumbers shared this helpful piece of advice on using boiling water, vinegar, baking soda, and salt:
Boiling hot water
Clogged sinks can be fixed with boiling water. Hot water isn’t enough – cooking is key to dissolving organics in your sink. However, be aware of the following: Do not use boiling water if you have PVC pipes as the heat can peel the joints. Also, never pour boiling water directly into a china sink, as it can crack. Use a large kettle or funnel to pour the boiling water down the drain if necessary.
Vinegar and baking soda
If boiling water alone doesn’t clear a sink, you can try using vinegar and baking soda. First, pour half a box of baking soda down the drain. Then, pour half a cup of vinegar into the sink and stop the drain with a metal stopper. Vineyard and baking powder trigger a “volcanic” reaction. Let this sit for 30 minutes before pouring boiling water down the drain.
Baking powder and salt
Baking soda is great for cutting fat in clogged sinks. When it comes to removing blockages, mix one part baking soda with one part salt and four parts boiling water. Drop this mixture down the drain and let it sit overnight. Rinse your drain with hot water in the morning.
Other licensed plumbers also mentioned salt. Terry’s Plumbing from Pittsburgh recommended using salt in a recipe to clean drains and let it sit “overnight.” This was perhaps the kind of thing the online advertisement for The Delite pointed out, though it didn’t mention this method in its 31-page story.
Roto-Rooter Plumbing, founded in 1935, also posted a YouTube video showing that salt can effectively eliminate runoff flies:
The description of the video contained further information:
The good news is, you can get rid of pesky drain flies with items and products you likely already have around your home. For example, salt, baking soda, vinegar, hot water, a pan and a cup. Add a pest strip and some fly paper to these items and you can catch any adults buzzing around the area.
Pour a cup of salt down the drain. Next, pour a cup of baking soda down the drain. Then pour a cup of vinegar. Let sit overnight. The next morning, pour the hot water. If you have a stainless steel, cast iron, or copper sink, you can pour boiling water into it. However, if your sink is made of composite material, it may crack when pouring boiling water into it. Instead, just use hot tap water.
Put out the fly paper or pest strips to catch the drain flies that buzz around the room.
It is true that some licensed plumbers recommend salt as one of several ingredients that can help deal with constipation and drain flies. However, we have not been able to find consensus among professionals that a little salt should be poured down the drains every night or in any way, as The Delite advertisements seemed to suggest.
Perhaps the best tip of all is to seek advice from a licensed plumbing company.
If you are a licensed professional and have any feedback on this story, please let us know.
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