How to Prevent Clogs in Your Drains

How to Prevent Clogs in Your Drains

Have you ever watched helplessly as the water in your sink just won’t go away or do you often find yourself ankle-deep in water when having a shower? If yes, then you might have a blocked drain on your hands. People usually deal with this by grabbing a plunger, but there are things you can do to prevent this from ever happening. Here’s how you can get rid of clogged drains once and for all.

Keep them clean

The best way to fight clogged drains is to keep them clean. Since drains aren’t exactly super visible, we usually think about them only when there’s a draining problem. But, if you only take a few minutes a week and pay some attention to them, the whole issue of clogs can be completely avoided. First, be mindful of what you flush down the drains. If you don’t have a habit of flushing food or too much debris, you’ll be good, but otherwise, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and start cleaning. The bathtub drain and kitchen sink are especially prone to clogging, so pay special attention to them. Regularly lift up the pop-up stopper in the bath or bathroom sink, pull out the hair and debris, rinse everything and voila!

Clean your garbage disposal

Once or twice a month you might want to peek into your garbage disposal. You can remove the grease and slime from the sides by getting a disposer brush or simply by grinding up some ice and table salt. After you think the coast is clear, flush everything with water and finish off with lemon for the fresh smell!

Employ a cleaner solution

A good bacterial cleaner will help you keep your drains clean and clog-free. Just make sure to opt for a brand that is 100% biodegradable and non-corrosive. Such drain cleaners are much safer and more eco-friendly than chemical ones, which means that they won’t damage your pipes.

Don’t neglect your outdoor drains

Your outdoor drains should also be kept clean. In Australia, most outdoor drains get blocked by tree roots and these are not so easy to remove unless you have a proper gear and experience. However, there are companies that can quickly and easily fix blocked drains in Sydney using high-pressure water jets. If you hire these pros every six to twelve months, you’ll never see your drains get blocked by annoying roots and there will be no more floods in your backyard.

Employ debris guards

Sink strainers can be annoying, but they actually serve a great purpose of protecting your drains from blockages. So, keep them in place and clean them regularly. There are also bath hair catchers that prevent hair clumps from going down the drain, and they are super cheap.

Change your bad habits

Most hair that gets caught in the drain was loose even before you stepped into the shower. So, try to comb your hair before you get in to prevent it from ending up in your drain. So, hair will still go down, but you’ll manage to reduce that amount.

Compost instead of disposing

One easy way to keep your garbage disposal drain clean is to decrease the number of times you use it. Instead of putting everything in the garbage disposal, create a composting bin. Once the compost is ready, use it in your garden or even sell it to your neighbors.

Once your drains are clean and debris-free, you should do your best to keep them that way. It might seem like a bother to check for clogs every week, but once it becomes a habit, you’ll never have to deal with another drain blockage again!

Guest Contributor, Cooper Klein

Understanding Blocked Drains and Ways To Prevent Them

Understanding Blocked Drains And Ways To Prevent Them

The familiar sound of gurgling from the drain and overflowing is taxing for everyone, especially for the residents. Blocked drains are frustrating plumbing problems for residents and can occur in various places including toilets, storm water lines, kitchens, and bathrooms. These blocked drains are often caused because of negligence and disposal of waste in the wrong way. However, as they say, old habits die hardly and thus it is a serious concern leading to over clogging, blockage of pipes creating havoc in your bathroom, kitchen and other areas of the house too. So, here is a guide to handle these issues.

Understanding causes of blocked drains

The little things add up to drainage issues rather than short-term problems. Here are some of the most common ones. If your answer checks the yes in most cases, then you are also the victim to this issue-

• Throwing waste right down the drain is perhaps one of the biggest issues that most people face with clogging of drains. In this case, bigger chunks of foods and other particles block your drains.

• Another common cause of these blocked drains would have to be the use of grease or animal fat that goes down the drain. These butter, oil, etc. eventually sticks to the side of the pipes. In such cases it causes other particles to stick there thus clogging the drains more.

• Last, but not the least do remember that hair particles, throwing little plastic things into your drain, etc. too leads to clogging. Another aspect here is that many people do throw sanitary napkins into the drains, which causes clogging. So beware of these.

Managing blocked drains

There are different ways to manage and care your drains. You can manage blocked drains in the following ways. Here, are some ideas that can be helpful.

Think of preventive measures

One of the best thing you can do is, try to prevent the clogging of these drains bystop throwing things into them. So as a rule of thumb, rather than disposing grease directly into the kitchen pipe, use a bin. In addition, for the bathroom use the drain covers that covers properly and allow only water to flow thus, preventing your hair and other such elements from going into the pipe and causing blocked drains.

Do regular cleaning

There is no doubt that regular maintenance is something that will improve the life of your drain and help you to ensure that your drains don’t clog that easily. So, the first step to keep in mind here is that you should opt for simple and regular cleaning methods. There are a few effective methods. Some of them are:

• Draining down hot water every night or every 2-3 days through the drain is known to prevent blocked drains. It helps in getting rid of stubborn fat and other greasy elements.

• You can also make a solution using baking soda, hot water, and vinegar and pour it down the lane. Just make sure that you don’t use the drain for the next few hours or so after doing this.

• Beside these, there are also a lot of regular drain cleaners available in the market. These are simple commercial ones available at grocery markets or departmental stores. Get one of these and use as instructed to prevent the blocked drains.

Do keep in mind that rather than calling a plumber, these measures to fix and prevent clogging of drains are more effective. Not only will you be able to save time and drainage hassles, but also prevent wastage of money, which a plumber would charge for cleaning up your drain.

Guest Contributor, Amelie Lawrence