Clogged sinks can be very inconvenient. There are ways to prevent clogged drains on your own, but it is very beneficial to find a professional plumber when in doubt. Below are things you need to know about preventive maintenance on your drains.
Run hot water down drain
After each use of your kitchen sink, it is a good idea to run very hot water down the drain. Doing so will help keep some of the oils and foods off the pipes. In more serious cases, this may make little or no difference.
Try baking soda and vinegar
Baking soda is a great cleaning agent. Throw a fourth of a cup of baking soda and follow up with hot water. Another great household product you can use is vinegar. Vinegar is also a great cleaner. Pour about a cup of vinegar down the drain, let it sit for about 30 minutes, then rinse it with very hot water.
Avoid dumping grease down drain
When cooking with grease, it is important to dump it into a glass container for future use or you may choose to empty your grease outside your back door. Either way is much better than putting grease down your drain.
Use grate or screen
There are many choices of grates and/or screens to protect your drain. Stop by a local store and choose what is best for your individual needs and wants. Purchasing one of these will be a great investment and definitely not a waste of time or money to invest in one.
Collect your food waste
It is tempting to just let your food go down the drain, but when you do that, you run a greater risk of clogs. It is important to keep all food out of the drain and throw away right away or collect it and throw it away in the garbage at once, not the sink.
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Watch what goes down the bathroom drain too
The kitchen sink gets most of the attention, but the bathroom sink, shower and tub are just as prone to clogs. The difference is what causes them. Hair, soap scum, toothpaste residue and small bits of plastic from packaging are the usual suspects. Soap and hair bind together over time and form a tough plug that even a strong drain cleaner has trouble breaking down.
A simple hair catcher in the shower drain prevents most of this. Empty it after every shower, the same way you would empty a vacuum bin. Two minutes a day is far easier than dealing with a slow drain a year later.
Run a monthly hot water flush on every drain
Once a month, take fifteen minutes to flush every drain in the house. Boil a kettle of water and pour it slowly down each drain in stages, pausing every cup or so. The slow pour gives the heat time to soften and loosen anything that’s started to build up on the pipe walls before it gets washed away.
This isn’t a fix for an existing clog. It’s preventive maintenance. The point is to keep small buildup from turning into the kind of blockage that needs a snake or a service call.
Skip chemical drain cleaners
Most over-the-counter drain cleaners are made of strong caustic or acidic chemicals. They can clear a clog, but they’re hard on your pipes, especially older metal pipes that have already been thinned by years of use. The same chemicals can also damage gaskets, seals and the rubber parts inside your fixtures.
For homes connected to a septic system, the issue is bigger. The bacteria in your septic tank do the actual work of breaking down waste. Pour a bottle of harsh chemicals down the drain and you can wipe out a healthy tank in a single use. The baking soda, vinegar and hot water approach above does the same job without the collateral damage.
Watch how you use the garbage disposal
A disposal is a tool, not a trash can. Some foods grind up easily and flush out without issue. Others stick around and cause problems weeks later. The list to keep out of the disposal includes:
- Coffee grounds, which clump together and stick to pipe walls
- Eggshells, which break into small abrasive pieces that combine with grease
- Pasta and rice, which keep absorbing water and can swell after they’re already in the line
- Potato peels, which produce a starchy paste
- Fibrous vegetables like celery, asparagus or corn husks, which wrap around the blades
- Fruit pits and bones, which the disposal isn’t designed to handle
Run cold water before, during and for thirty seconds after using the disposal. Cold water helps any remaining grease stay solid so it gets carried out instead of coating the pipe.
Recognize the early signs of a clog forming
Catching a slow drain early is the difference between a five-minute fix and a service call. Some warning signs:
- The water in the sink takes longer to disappear than it used to
- Gurgling sounds when water drains, especially after the dishwasher or washing machine runs
- A faint odor coming up from the drain when nothing is running
- Water backing up briefly into another fixture in the same room
If you spot any of these, address the affected drain right away with hot water, baking soda and vinegar before it has a chance to fully clog. If two or more drains are showing signs at once, the issue is likely deeper in the line than any home remedy will reach. Homes across Gulfport, Biloxi, Long Beach, Pass Christian, Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis run into this often, especially older homes where decades of buildup have narrowed the pipes from the inside.
We’re on standby if you need to call a professional, or in the case, it just gets too ‘yucky’! If your plumbing needs to be repaired, contact ASAP Plumbing today at 228-865-2727 or visit www.plumbinggulfportms.com and request a free estimate! We can handle all your plumbing needs including installation, repair, and clogged sinks.