Tips For Avoiding Blocked Drains
Nobody enjoys the task of clearing out blocked drains. They are a hassle and a headache for homeowners and renters alike. They take precious time out of your day or money out of your wallet in order to properly repair them. The best way to deal with blocked drains is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. There are several ways to do this and they are all free and require very little time.
For starters, be careful about what you are allowing to go down your kitchen sink. Even if you have a garbage disposal, never, ever put coffee grounds down the drain. Certainly don’t flush them down the toilet. Always dispose of them in the garbage or the compost heap. The same is true for grease. Plumbers the world over agree that grease is the number one cause of blocked pipes in the kitchen. Pour the hot grease into a container and throw it out once it is cool.
Take the time to fish things like buttons, change, hair pins and other small items out of the drain if they fall in. While it may seem at first that there isn’t a problem, they can get caught farther down the pipes, collecting little bits of food, hair and soap, eventually causing a terrible blockage in a place you cannot get to on your own. Better yet, put a catcher in your kitchen sink to prevent this from occurring at all and take special care when in the bathroom so that things like change and hair pins never have a chance to fall down the drain.
Routinely clean the stoppers in your drains. The bathtub and the bathroom sink in particular are prone to the slow build-up of hair and soap scum. Cleaning the stoppers on a regular basis is one way to prevent blockages from occurring.
Never flush wipes of any kind down the toilet. Baby wipes, personal cleansing wipes and household wipes are not meant to be flushed and therefore are not designed to dissolve in water. As such, they can quickly clog a pipe. The same is true for feminine hygiene products. Pads are not in any way designed to be flushed and let’s just say that the resulting clog they cause is not a pleasant mess to clean up. Older plumbing systems also have narrower pipes than their modern counter parts, making flushing tampons down the toilet an unwise choice. It is much better to neatly wrap them up and throw them out.
As you can see, preventing clogs from occurring isn’t a difficult chore and only requires a few minor changes to your normal routine. It will save you time and money if you follow these simple steps.
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