Drain Cleaning: Saving Money By Preventing Drain Clogs | Harvey, LA
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If your toilet isn’t quite flushing right or your sinks are taking longer than they should to drain, chances are you’ve got a clog somewhere in a drain pipe. Drain clogs are a common plumbing problem, but they’re also a very preventable one. There are a lot of simple things you can do to make sure you don’t have to call a drain cleaning service, so it’s important to educate yourself. If you want to make sure you’re keeping the drains in your Harvey, LA, home clean and clear, here are some tips for preventing some of the most common causes of drain clogs.
The Kitchen
One of the most common places for clogs to occur is the kitchen sink. A lot of people think they can put whatever they want down their kitchen sink because they have a garbage disposal, but that’s far from the case. The more you put down your garbage disposal, the more likely you are to have to call a cleaning service.
Your best bet when it comes to keeping your kitchen sink drain clear is to throw as much food away as possible. If you don’t want to throw wet food in the garbage, you can always get a strainer for your kitchen sink so you can drain the moisture out of solid foods and throw them away.
It’s important to understand what you should specifically avoid throwing in your kitchen sink. As tempting as it might be to put them in the garbage disposal, you should never put things like coffee grounds, egg shells and rice down your kitchen sink drain. These foods tend to clog up in your drain pipes, which almost guarantees a call to a professional drain cleaning company.
The Bathroom
In addition to making sure you’re preventing clogs in your kitchen, you also need to make sure you’re watching out for clogs in the bathroom. A lot of people end up having to call a drain cleaning company for a bathroom drain simply because they don’t know what they should and shouldn’t put down those drains.
When it comes to your toilet, you should try your best to make sure you’re only putting toilet paper down there. Even the wet wipes that are marketed as flushable aren’t designed to break down in your drain pipes, so they can cause huge problems. Avoiding flushable wipes and not flushing things like cotton swabs, cotton balls and makeup products can prevent expensive clogs in your toilet.
You also need to be careful when it comes to bathroom sinks and showers. Even if you’re trying not to clog up your drains, the hair and soap that naturally builds up in sinks and showers tends to do a pretty good job of clogging up drains. The best thing you can do if you don’t want to end up calling a drain cleaning company is install a drain catch that catches and hair and soap scum before it goes in your pipes.
Drain Cleaners
When most people have a clog in one of their drains, they simply pull out a chemical drain cleaner such as Drano and get it removed. While these drain cleaners are somewhat effective, they’re far from the best option if you care about keeping your drains clear and preventing pipe damage. As a matter of fact, chemical drain cleaners can cost you a lot more than it costs to hire a drain cleaning service.
The problem with Drano is that it tends to wear down certain types of pipes due to chemical reactions. If your pipes are getting clogged over and over again and you keep using a chemical drain cleaner to unclog them, you could end up with an expensive plumbing repair bill.
If you want to keep your pipes in good shape and get rid of clogs, you should opt for an enzyme-based drain cleaner. Any drain cleaning company will tell you that enzyme-based cleaners are the way to go because they don’t damage pipes. Rather than using harsh chemicals to break down clogs, these cleaners use enzymes that are designed to eat away at the clog without causing damage to the pipe.
Dealing with a Clog
There’s nothing worse than turning on a faucet or flushing a toilet and realizing one of your drain pipes is completely clogged. As hard as you might work to prevent it, you never know when you’re going to have to call a drain cleaning company to knock out a clog in your Harvey, LA, home. The good news is, there are steps you can take to deal with a clog.
The first thing you should do if you have a clog is try using an enzyme-based cleaner to get rid of it. Obviously this won’t work if the clog is severe, but these drain cleaners can knock out a lot of simple clogs in a couple attempts. If that doesn’t work, you should call a drain cleaning service.
If you can help it, avoid using the drain that’s clogged while you wait for it to be cleared. Pooling up water and pouring more drain cleaners down a clogged drain isn’t going to do anything but make more of a mess when it’s time to unclog it, so there’s no need to involve yourself with bad clogs.
The Right Choice
As a homeowner, you have to make sure you’re taking good care of your plumbing system. A big part of this is doing what you can to prevent clogs in your home and get them cleared up as soon as you notice them.
If you’ve been having troubles with a clogged drain in your home, you’re in luck. bluefrog Plumbing + Drain offers drain cleaning services to help you make sure all the drains in your home are clean and clear, plus we can give you tips to keep them that way. If you need a drain unclogged, call bluefrog at 504-457-7204 today.
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