A clogged drain can lead to slow draining, overflows, jammed garbage disposals, and a number of other inconveniences. While there are several DIY methods for removing all but the most stubborn drain clogs, it is much easier to avoid them in the first place. Here are four tips that can help you keep your drains clog-free.
1.Throw Away Foods That Are Known to Clog Drains
If your sink is equipped with a garbage disposal, you may think that you can put almost anything down the drain without worrying about clogs. Unfortunately, there are certain food wastes that even your garbage disposal can't handle. Grease is one of the most common culprits behind drain clogs. While you may not think that liquid fats and oils would clog a drain, the problem is that they solidify as they cool after they have gone down the drain.
While grease is dangerous because it hardens, other foods are dangerous because they expand when they come in contact with water. Examples include pasta, rice, and coffee grounds. As these foods swell, they will also clump together and stick to the walls of the pipes to form a solid clog. Avoid putting any of these things down your drain.
2. Clean Your Sink Strainers
Your sink strainers are important for filtering out large particles that could lead to a clogged drain. If you neglect your sink strainers, they could become clogged themselves and lead to overflow even more quickly than a clogged drain. Remember to remove your sink strainer and dump out the food waste that has collected in it regularly. If there is significant clogging, you may need to use steel wool to scrub out the sludge that has built up in the strainer.
3. Fight Clogs with Regular Vinegar Treatments
Many homeowners resort to chemical cleaners to keep their drains free of clogs. Unfortunately, many chemical cleaners are caustic and will damage copper, steel, iron, and even PVC pipes with repeated use. While there are enzymatic cleaners that are biodegradable and will not damage pipes, vinegar is a cheaper alternative that may be sufficient if you are careful about the foods that you put down your drains.
Pouring half a bottle of vinegar down your drains every few months will help to break down food particles that are stuck on the sides of your pipes and make clogs occur less frequently. While vinegar is slightly caustic, it is not strong enough to damage pipes if you follow it up after half an hour with hot water. Like enzymatic cleaners, vinegar is environmentally friendly, so you won't have to worry about groundwater contamination with repeated use.
4. Keep Hair out of Your Drains
While clogs in your kitchen are often caused by food waste, hair is the primary cause of drain clogs in the bathroom. In addition to tangling together and sticking to pipes on its own, hair wraps around soap flakes and anything else that goes down your drain to quickly create large, stubborn clogs. Minimizing the amount of human and pet hair that goes down your drains will reduce the frequency of drain clogs in your bathroom.
If you have long hair, it is a good idea to brush it before you take a shower or bath. This will remove many of the loose strands that would likely have fallen into the drain. While shaving, put a baby wipe between the drain and the drain plug so you can easily collect and throw away the hair after you are done. This same trick can be used to keep pets' hair out of the drain when you are bathing them.
Using these simple tips, you can minimize the frequency of drain clogs in your home and avoid the hassle of removing them yourself or the cost of hiring a plumber. However, you could try here or another similar website to schedule a plumber if necessary.
