Adventures in Eco-plumbing

Our drain has been rather sluggish since we've arrived and it's finally reached the breaking point. So what are two environmentally concerned girlies to do when faced with shelves and shelves of Mr. Muscolo?

Remember making volcanoes in 2nd grade science class?

Yeah. Something like that:



SO MUCH MORE FUN THAN DRAIN-O! And...it works better, too! For best results, as I've found, in an empty sink dump a bunch of baking soda and a bunch of salt down the drain in alternating layers so that they mix up all nice and whatnot. Leave the mess for a couple hours to settle into the clog (I mixed it all up right before leaving for a class) and after, pour a good load of hot-but-not-boiling vinegar down. ENJOY THE SHOW! A chaser of hot water and a couple of plunges later and my drain was practically sucking water down. A quick baking soda/vinegar flush once a week will keep drains clear and fresh smelling (so I've heard and will make sure to try out).

On an Italian note -- baking soda here is found in the drink aisle of a grocery store. The equivalent to the soda and juice aisle of American stores. Um...why?

Also, sidenote, do you know how difficult it is to explain the concept of "unless"? "The pasta will be bland unless I add salt to the water" was what I ended up going with to explain the whole thing. It's just strange...things and concepts you use every day become these weirdo things when you have to parse and explain them. So "unless" is a "fate-changer" You state the expected path of an event and "unless" is the event that will change the inevidable course. What? Yes. ARGH.