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 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 allow 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, hairpins, 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 reach on your own. Better yet, put a catcher in your kitchen sink to prevent this from occurring at all, and take special care in the bathroom so that things like change and hairpins never have a chance to fall down the drain.

Routinely clean the stoppers in your drains. The bathtub and 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 the resulting clog they cause is not a pleasant mess to clean up. Older plumbing systems also have narrower pipes than their modern counterparts, 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. Following these simple steps will save you time and money.