Product Love: Zip-It
The other day, I had a clogged drain in the bathroom and tried every eco trick in the book, including the good ‘ol baking soda, white vinegar and boiling water routine. Nadda. Nothing. Just a clogged sink fizzing with baking soda, vinegar and very hot water. Hmmmm.
So I headed to my local Lowe’s store to see what non-toxic solution I could come up with. Should I get a small plunger and try to force the clog away? Should I just give up and pour some toxic Drain-o down the drain? Well, I would never resort to that. Instead, I stumbled upon a $2 product called Zip-It from Cobra products that is one of those products that should’ve been invented years ago because it works so simply and so well.
It’s basically a long plastic cord with little barbs on the side and it’s very flexible. Insert it into the drain until you reach the the very end of the Zip-It device. Then you pull. The plastic barbs grip onto all the gunky debris that’s inside the drain and completely unclogs it.
Within seconds, I had a clear drain, sans using toxic drain cleaning chemicals. To finish it off, I poured half a box of baking soda into the clean drain and half a bottle of white vinegar to fizz the residual grease, gunk and whatever gross stuff was down there away.
- Insert Into Drain
- Push All The Way In
- Remove clog
Nothing could be more simple than the patented Zip-It. No nasty chemicals will eat away at your pipes. No special tools are required. You don’t have to take apart your drain. You don’t even have to remove the stopper. It’s that easy!
My product love of the week: Zip it!
This is the second time I’ve heard of the Zip It recently! John and Sherry over at Young House Love had the same problem a couple weeks ago and unfortunately the Zip It didn’t work for them as well as it worked for you. They also tackled their clog without harsh chemicals. Check it out here: http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/10/in-your-face-clog/
Ingenius! I wish they had the marketing budget that the toxic chemical drain cleaners do to get the word out on this great alternative! We’ll just have to drum up the word-of-mouth advertising…
I bought one of these over six years ago and it still works great. Especially in my household, two cats, one long haired, me with very very long hair and my husband who has had very very very long hair in the past, buzzed now, it really is the best way to deal with hair clogs.
I can’t say enough good things about the Zip-It. They are inexpensive, work well, and last longer than you would expect. I even gave them out as gifts to my friends one year. The perfect low-tech, green tool. They are one of the few items I could sell door-to-door (along with battery operated lawn mowers).
So cool. Thanks for the tidbit. I’ve been looking for something to bath tub clogs (ugh!). Running to Lowe’s right after work! Yippee!
that is awesome!
i’m going to go buy it…no matter how hard i try to capture my thick long hair in the shower, the pipes inevitably get clogged every 6 months…this thing’s going to be a life saver!