{"id":2687,"date":"2024-10-22T19:47:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T17:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holyhyggehome.com\/?p=2687"},"modified":"2026-07-25T14:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:13:45","slug":"saadan-vedligeholder-vi-afloeb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holyhyggehome.com\/en\/saadan-vedligeholder-vi-afloeb\/","title":{"rendered":"How We Maintain Drains"},"content":{"rendered":"
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That whole thing about plumbing was never really something I learned at home, just like so many other important things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, as a child, I actually learned surprisingly little about anything related to home maintenance, machinery, finances, and so on. I imagine there are many people my age who can relate to this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until I went to boarding school that I learned how to clean properly; they made a big deal out of us being able to do it ourselves. Our headmaster, Viggo, and I had a very friendly relationship; he\u2019d also check my cleaning and teach me how to properly wipe down light switches and outlets and stuff like that, hahahaha! I was used to being in the kitchen, since I\u2019d already been cooking and baking on my own for many years by that point. But when it came to maintaining a drain, well\u2026 it took me quite a few years before I grasped the importance of this and learned to do it in an environmentally friendly way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, yes, there are so many ways to do it\u2014most involve colorful plastic containers filled with corrosive glue in garish neon colors. Not exactly friendly, either to us or to the earth. So I haven\u2019t had much interest in those for many years now, but I used to use them, with very mixed results. Once, it corroded one of my pipes, so it spilled out \u201ccorrosive liquid\u201d and, well, sludge\u2014it was really gross! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do you do then? Well, I Googled around and found various recipes claiming that baking soda and vinegar were the solution to every possible problem with a drain, so that\u2019s what we used\u2014without really knowing what we were actually doing over time. Then, suddenly, we had a drain that was so clogged that we had to call for help after trying EVERYTHING for several weeks without being able to get the water to drain on our own. That\u2019s when we realized that the baking soda and vinegar solution can actually be a really bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the plumber came by, it wasn't just a little clump that came out of the drain\u2014no, no\u2014if you're squeamish, close your eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s one of the ugliest photos I\u2019ve chosen to share on this blog, which I otherwise try to keep aesthetically pleasing. But let\u2019s be honest\u2014sludge isn\u2019t pretty. Instead, it\u2019s the result of not really understanding the importance of maintaining your drains\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Which I admit I\u2019m 100% guilty of here. When a compact clump of sludge nearly 50 cm long comes out of a drain\u2014so much so that the plumber had to cut the drainpipe to clear the blockage\u2014it\u2019s clear I haven\u2019t been maintaining it very well. The plumber had never encountered such a compact or troublesome \u201cclog\u201d before. So yes, it was a new and not-so-charming experience for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call it a \u201cclog\u201d because that\u2019s really how we should view our drains\u2014as a digestive system that needs help to function properly. Unfortunately, that kind of help doesn\u2019t come from baking soda or vinegar, which tend to crystallize in the drains, so they aren\u2019t really a constructive solution in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But prevention is really the only thing that should matter right now. Learning to treat your home as a system that needs care so it can stay healthy and in good shape. It\u2019s not much different from taking care of your body, really. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t learn about this at home or in the school system, so we often have to learn it the hard way\u2014which is when the problem has already arisen, as is the case here with our sludge mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, I\u2019ve learned to maintain my drains and check them weekly. Just like my grandmother did\u2014she had countless products (chemicals) lying around; they weren\u2019t dangerous chemicals, but what you\u2019d call raw materials for keeping the house in good condition. She was a lab technician, but she also had that know-how that her generation possessed. They knew more about how to maintain things. They came from a time when people repaired things\u2014they didn\u2019t just buy new ones. My generation has learned practically very little in the way of practical skills; we\u2019ve learned all sorts of things that are basically completely irrelevant, and we\u2019ve learned to hand over the necessary knowledge to the experts and listen to them\u2014and not to be particularly resourceful ourselves when it comes down to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, that\u2019s a trend that\u2019s really bothered me throughout my entire adult life. I really don\u2019t like putting myself down like that\u2014I don\u2019t want to just lounge around watching Netflix while a plumber makes a fortune off my ignorance. The most important thing, in my view, is that you can handle the vast majority of things on your own. I don\u2019t want to outsource everything I can do myself to others. I find joy in the fact that we can repair and maintain things ourselves, take care of our family ourselves, work on our car ourselves, fix up the house, and so on and so forth. It\u2019s just a huge sense of freedom, and there are so many things we can handle on our own because it\u2019s super easy\u2014and a lot of it is just about maintenance, since that prevents the need for repairs or having the septic tank pumped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love being able to do things myself! I really hate having to call a contractor or someone else because we can\u2019t do it ourselves\u2014and let\u2019s just be honest about it. It\u2019s happened 4\u20135 times in our 15-year marriage, so it\u2019s not often we\u2019ve had to give in. We like to do things ourselves, and that\u2019s why we decided to try fixing the drain on our own. We tried for weeks with everything from vinegar, baking soda, \u201ccaustic\u201d products from the hardware store, lye, expensive drain snakes, and plungers, but nothing worked. This meant we had to pour water out of a bucket every time we used one of the kitchens, since there was no working drain in it\u2014and, well, it really wasn\u2019t any fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the solution was to bring in outside help, which then solved the problem\u2014a problem we had created ourselves. This was primarily due to a lack of maintenance and poor guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So no, this isn't yet another blog post about baking soda and vinegar. Since it was actually obvious from the sludge that the baking soda\/vinegar routine had clogged our drain even more, we're not using that anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, I\u2019ve now learned to be practical when it comes to drains, just like my grandmother was. She had certain things she did every week, and cleaning the drains was one of them. Descaling the bathtub, sink, washing machine, and kettle were a few others. But she did it every week, which meant there was never any limescale anywhere, and she never had a clogged drain\u2014she had a knack for that sort of thing, and I have to admit that I certainly haven\u2019t. Because all I\u2019ve ever learned to do is go to school, come home, relax, entertain myself, eat, and sleep. Which is extremely limiting and unfortunate. So the process of unlearning has been long and hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now I\u2019ve come to realize that having a plan and a routine for maintenance is important\u2014it really makes a difference if you don\u2019t want to constantly run into problems with something in your home, in your life, or in your body. So yes, I have to learn everything I didn\u2019t learn before, and it\u2019s not always easy, but I\u2019m working on it every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe some of the above sounds familiar to you\u2014otherwise, you probably wouldn\u2019t be reading this post, right? Below, I\u2019ll share how I clean and maintain our drains in a relatively simple and eco-friendly way every week when we\u2019re at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s one less thing to worry about. Because you\u2019ve already done your best to prevent any emergencies, messes, and so on. I have to admit, that gives me a lot of peace of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Weekly Drain Maintenance<\/h2>\n\t\t
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I do this every Monday morning when I wake up. It\u2019s simply become a routine, and I do it right after I brush my teeth and wash my face. That way, it gets done early while the others in the house are still asleep. It takes me about an hour to go through the house\u2019s three drains, and that\u2019s only because I have to mix the solution, let it sit, and boil water. So it\u2019s not all active time\u2014it\u2019s just like making tea: there\u2019s boiling time and steeping time, so I can do other things in the meantime.<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/span> Print<\/a>\n\t\t<\/path><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/span> Pin<\/a>\n\t\t <\/g><\/svg><\/span> Rate<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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Prep Time: <\/span>10 minutter<\/span><\/span> minutter<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time: <\/span>15 minutter<\/span><\/span> minutter<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Pulling time: <\/span>30 minutter<\/span><\/span> minutter<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time: <\/span>45 minutter<\/span><\/span> minutter<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t
Course: <\/span>Cleaning product<\/span><\/div>
Cuisine: <\/span>Household<\/span><\/div>
Keyword: <\/span>Drains, vinegar, baking soda, home maintenance<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t
Quantity: <\/span>1<\/span> drain<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t
Author: <\/span>Belle<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t

Equipment<\/h3>