It is in my sink. And every drain I've ever unblocked.
The deposits are solid, but the oils that make them up are not. The fact that they are water insoluble is what keeps the deposit in place. When baking soda saponifies those oils into soluble soaps, the is easier to break up and remove.
Maybe, but it'll be slow and ineffectual compared to caustic soda - which is, as you guessed, and I'd already pointed out, is what constitutes old fashioned drain cleaner.
By adding heat to the reaction you can increase the activity of bicarb. You are probably right with respect to the relative effectiveness of bicarb and caustic soda. However, people were wondering about the chemistry of bicarb and clogs, so that is what I was explaining.
But why piss about? Caustic soda is cheap and readily available, it does the job without all the hassle of boiling water - it produces its own heat - and is a really strong base. I thought it unpleasant to mention it earlier, but it's so good at breaking down fat that it's used in the industrial production of soap - the Nazis used it to for exactly that purpose but with human fat. Not baking soda.
The only concern I would have is safety. People may not realize how hot things can get when you add caustic soda to water, or how corrosive it can be. At least baking soda removes the idiot factor, even if it is less effective.
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