Gunky drains

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littlefrodo

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I make soap just for our family's use, and we have noticed that our bathroom drains (shower and sink) get gunked up fairly quickly. The recipe I use is lard, coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil. Does anyone else experience this? (My husband really wondered if this was due to the soap.)
 
I agree, it may be soap scum build-up. I've been using handmade soap for 5+ years and have never had a problem with my drains. My parent's have hard water but have a water softener and they've not had any issues either. So, can't really speak first hand.
 
littlefrodo said:
I make soap just for our family's use, and we have noticed that our bathroom drains (shower and sink) get gunked up fairly quickly. The recipe I use is lard, coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil. Does anyone else experience this? (My husband really wondered if this was due to the soap.)
Click to expand...
How high do you superfat? I have horrific plumbing and learned a long time ago, when I wash out my soaping utensils and buckets I always toss the contents down the bank. LOL, have a tree below me with lots of whitish leaves... I also cut my superfat down to 2-3 and it has greatly helped with our stoppages. By the way, I prefer low superfatted soap since I really hate the oily feeling of some soap. Also I found adding extra lye and citric for chelating helped. This is one thread which addresses it
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=47990&highlight=chelating
 
I know I have terrible soap scum since switching to home made soap. Using citric acid for chelating has helped. I use a high SF and it doesn't seem to affect the pluming but the way the pipes are set up the shower drain goes almost straight down into the city sewage system which probably helps.
 
Dorymae said:
Now you get to use lye for something other than making the soap!!:shock:
Click to expand...

I also use mine for making Laugenbretzel (soft pretzels dipped in a mild lye-solution before baking), and I am shortly about to find out how wonderful it is for making Laugencroissant (flakey/butter croissants dipped in a mild lye solution before baking). I'm (hopefully) going to try my hand at making some this week for the first time.


IrishLass :)
 
Oh! Can I convince you to send me the recipe for the croissants if the turn out well? I make French pastry dough for Danishes and croissants, I'd be interested in learning a new technique.
 
I noticed the first time I used my soap in the bath the increased scum and came here to ask and remember someone saying if it was my soap that I should come back as they might be able to help. I've just checked my water quality and this is the result:

ImageUploadedBySoap Making1422306597.455300.jpg

Will my soap benefit from citric acid? Or sodium citrate?
 
Dorymae said:
Oh! Can I convince you to send me the recipe for the croissants if the turn out well? I make French pastry dough for Danishes and croissants, I'd be interested in learning a new technique.
Click to expand...


My pleasure! I will post it in the food recipe section of the forum.


IrishLass :)
 
IrishLass said:
Actually, sodium citrate is just fine, and in some cases, even better than citric acid since it won't mess with your superfat (since sodium citrate has already been reacted with lye).


IrishLass :)
Click to expand...


Ah I see, like coconut oil + sodium hydroxide = sodium cocoate?

Does this mean I don't need to do the calculations talked about in the other thread? ie I don't need an extra 6g of lye per 10g of sodium citrate?

Is the usage rate still 0.1% oil weight?
 
Sonya-m said:
Ah I see, like coconut oil + sodium hydroxide = sodium cocoate?

Does this mean I don't need to do the calculations talked about in the other thread? ie I don't need an extra 6g of lye per 10g of sodium citrate?

Is the usage rate still 0.1% oil weight?
Click to expand...

If you use sodium citrate, you don't need to do the other calculations of increasing the lye because sodium citrate is, for lack of a better description, sodium hydroxide (lye) plus citric acid already mixed together. Only if you use citric acid do you need to increase the lye so you don't increase your superfat or otherwise unsaponify your whole soapy creation.
 
There is a range of acceptable dosage. You want to use enough to make your soap work better in hard water, but too much of a good thing is not necessarily better.

For citric acid, the dosage is anywhere from 0.1% (1 gram per 1000 grams of oil) to 3% (30 grams per 1000 grams of oil). I think most people use the 1% rate, to be honest.

And, just to be clear for all reading this, you'll also want to add to your soap recipe an extra 6 g of NaOH for every 10 g of citric acid added. This extra NaOH is needed to convert the citric acid to sodium citrate. If you don't do this, the citric acid will "steal" the lye it wants from your soaping lye and that theft will increase your superfat.

Because the molecular weight of sodium citrate is higher than citric acid, the dosage is a wee bit higher, if you want to be super precise -- 0.13% to 3.9%.

You do NOT, as Irish Lass pointed out, need to add any extra lye when using sodium citrate.
 
Last edited:
Thanks DeeAnna - was hoping you'd pop in with a reply! Fountain of all knowledge!!

I've ordered the sodium citrate I posted the link to

Regarding usage, would recommend starting at the top or bottom end or somewhere in the middle, say 0.6%?
 

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