11.08.2024

Why is it important to flush salt down the toilet every day?

By Lesia

While baking soda and white vinegar have proven their worth in home maintenance, there are other natural products that are also used to, among other things, unblock pipes, such as salt.

bathroom

Toilets – Source: spm

Why do you need to pour salt into the toilet bowl?

Thanks to its abrasive action, salt helps to descale surfaces and remove yellow stains, encrusted in the bottom of the toilet bowl and shower walls. In addition to being a natural stain remover, salt also helps to eliminate bad odors  and unclog toilet pipes.  Moreover, toilets can easily get clogged if you throw tampons or wipes in the bowl. This is why  only natural waste and toilet paper should end up in the bowl.  The rest should be thrown in the trash.

If your toilet is clogged and smells bad, use salt. To do this, simply pour a glass of salt into the bowl, let it sit for a few minutes and flush.

To maintain your toilet and prevent it from getting clogged, pour a tablespoon of salt into the bowl with boiling water once a month. Leave it to act for 15 minutes and flush. Boiling water is also effective for unblocking toilet pipes,  provided that the blockage is not very large.  You can pour a bucket of boiling water into the bowl, or heat half a liter of white vinegar with a liter of water to optimize the result. Pour your mixture into the bowl and leave it to act for 30 minutes.

salt

Table salt – Source: spm

Note that you can use salt even to  unclog kitchen sink drains  or bathroom sinks.

What other products are there to unclog toilet drains?

In addition to salt, you can try other eco-friendly and handy products to unclog your toilet.

  • Baking soda to unclog toilet drains
bicarbonate toilet

Baking soda to unclog toilets – Source: spm

This all-purpose product is effective in fighting blockages. To do this, heat a little water without boiling it and mix it with half a cup of baking soda. Pour your mixture into the toilet bowl and lower the seat. Let it sit for a few minutes,  and when the water level has dropped,  flush the toilet. Scrub the sides of the bowl with a toilet brush to remove traces of baking soda, but also to clean and de-yellow them.

  • Yogurt to remove toilet blockage

Yogurt is a natural antibacterial that disinfects toilets, but also  eliminates tartar from the bowl and bad odors.  The good bacteria in yogurt, in addition to its enzymes, attack fats and other residues to break them down and thus evacuate excrement and unclog the toilet. To do this,  leave expired yogurt at room temperature  for 24 hours, and empty its contents into the bowl.

  • Lemon juice to unclog toilets

Thanks to its citric acid, lemon juice has a degreasing and antibacterial action. It is also effective in  removing scale that clogs toilets.  Indeed, scale deposits reduce the diameter of the pipes. To unclog the toilet, pour a little lemon juice and baking soda into the bowl. Lower the toilet lid, leave it to act for a few minutes and flush the toilet  when the water level has dropped.

  • The Spanish broom to clear the toilet blockage

If unclogging your toilet requires a plunger, you can use a Spanish broom. Enclose the fringes of the broom in a plastic bag to turn it into a plunger and push it into the bowl. Use back and forth motions to clear the clog from the toilet. Repeat  until the water drains normally again.

With the salt trick and these drain unblocking methods, you can unblock your toilet bowl yourself without calling a plumber.