4 Simple Drain Maintenance Tips To Prevent Plumbing Issues

Like most people, you probably don’t pay much attention to your home’s plumbing system. However, it plays a critical role in your daily life. In particular, your home’s drains help properly manage and eliminate wastewater at home. It’s an essential component that prevents the accumulation of dirty water and helps keep your home sanitary and safe. 

That said, blocked drains are one of the most common plumbing problems that most homeowners experience–from simple issues like slow-draining sinks to serious ones like a backflowing toilet that creates a nasty mess. 

If you don’t want to experience these annoying issues, you must proactively maintain your plumbing drains. This post shares expert tips on properly caring for and maintaining your drain to prevent serious plumbing issues. Read on.  

1. Schedule Professional Deep Cleanings

While you can clean and maintain your drains on your own, it’s essential to schedule regular deep cleaning at least once a year. Plumbing experts like Fergusons Plumbing Group here have the necessary experience and tools to ensure deeper cleaning and resolve issues. 

Generally, comprehensive drain cleaning is a nasty business. You don’t want to know the kind of things that plumbers pull off your drains during the process. Save yourself the trouble and disgusting experience and let the experts do their job. 

In addition, a professional plumber better understands what’s wrong with your drains. This is particularly true if you have chronic blockages in your drain. They can help check for the underlying cause, such as gunk buildup and corroded pipe and resolve it accordingly. Hiring a reliable plumber can provide expert guidance and insights on properly using, caring for, and maintaining your drains too. 

2. Don’t Use It As A Trash Can

Most homeowners are guilty of using plumbing drains and toilets as trash cans. Food scraps and grease are often dumped into kitchen sinks. Meanwhile, soap debris, hair, toilet paper, cotton balls, baby wipes, and more are often thrown in the toilet bowl or allowed to go down in bathroom drains. 

Although it may seem harmless, and your drain and toilet may successfully remove debris, blockages will form and create a disgusting issue later on. Thus, you should start thinking before throwing or flushing anything. 

Generally, only wastewater should go down your drain. This is particularly important in your kitchen sink. Make sure to remove all grease, oil, and fats from cooking pans. Also, collect all food scraps before washing the dishes, preventing them from going down the drain. In the toilet, only bodily waste should be flushed and nothing more.  

3. Add Drain Caps And Filters

Perhaps the most straightforward way to maintain and keep your drain clean and clear is to install a drain filter or cap. Generally, when you buy drain fixtures, they often come with a cap or filter. Nonetheless, if yours doesn’t have one or it’s already worn out or damaged, you can get a universal cap or filter at any local hardware store. 

From their name, these caps and filters help catch and filter food scraps, debris, and other large particles from falling into your drain pipes. This helps prevent clogs and blockages on your lines, making it easier to keep your sink clean and clear. 

4. Ditch The Chemical Cleaners

Whether you have a slow-draining sink or want to keep your drains clean, you should never use chemical cleaners. Generally, store-bought chemical drain cleaners are excellent at removing a clog in your drain. Unfortunately, it’s only a temporary solution, and the clog can return. 

Additionally, while these cleaners help break down gunk in drain pipes, they contain harsh ingredients that can eat away pipes, causing premature damage and corrosion. Over time, your pipes will develop holes and cause leaks. 

Moreover, these chemical cleaners produce toxic fumes that can harm your health. Lastly, they can also pollute your local waterways and kill wildlife. 

So, instead of relying on these chemical cleaners, you can use home remedies. For instance, the trusted plunger helps dislodge and remove minor blockages on your drain. You can also create your own drain cleaner if you want to clean your drain. 

Generally, effective drain cleaning ingredients are already available in your kitchen. Simply pour a cup of baking soda into your drain. Then slowly pour vinegar and let the mixture sizzle. Leave it for up to half an hour to loosen gunk and debris buildup within the pipes. After that, pour hot water into the pipes to clean off the mixture and gunk buildup. If all goes well, it should help remove clogs in your drain and leave it clean. 

Takeaway

As you can see, maintaining your plumbing drains shouldn’t be stressful. With a few tips and simple know-how, you can efficiently preserve your drain, keeping them clean and clear to prevent nasty clogs and promote a healthy plumbing system.