Tips from Your Drain Cleaning Service Expert for Preventing Drain Clogs in Your Home | Knoxville, TN
Sunday, November 10th, 2019
Photo By Andrey_Popov at Shutterstock
If you have ever had the displeasure of dealing with a clogged drain in your home, you know how much of a pain it can be. The good news is, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce the likelihood of a clogged drain in your Knoxville, TN, home. Not only do you need to know what not to do, you also need to know what steps to take when you notice a drain slowing down. Lucky for you, we’ve got some great drain maintenance tips that can help you avoid spending money on a drain cleaning service.
Drain Cleaners
Most Knoxville, TN, homeowners don’t think twice before using popular drain cleaners like Drano. After all, these drain cleaners must have become a household name in the industry for a reason, right?
The truth is, any good drain cleaning service would recommend against using Drano or other chemical drain cleaners. Drano uses lye to break down the organic matter in your pipes, which does a somewhat decent job of cleaning pipes but can cause damage to them. If you use chemical-based drain cleaners for long enough, it may cause your pipes to corrode and leave you with a hefty repair bill.
If you want to avoid hiring a drain cleaning service, one of the best things you can do is switch to an enzyme-based drain cleaner. There are a lot of enzyme-based drain cleaners on the market, all of which use enzymes that eat away at organic matter but are harmless to pipes. Since they aren’t harmful, you can use enzyme-based drain cleaners on a regular basis to make sure your pipes are staying clean.
What Not to Flush
Believe it or not, flushing the wrong things is one of the most common things that leads people to call drain cleaning services. Your toilet may seem like it can handle a lot, but the truth is you shouldn’t flush anything down your toilet that won’t naturally break down in drain pipe.
Toilet paper is made in a way that it breaks down easily as it goes down the drain. If you put a piece of toilet paper in the toilet and leave it, you’ll notice it eventually turns to basically nothing. Flushable wipes, on the other hand, will stay intact even if you leave them sitting in water for hours. Despite these products being marketed as flushable, any good plumber or drain cleaning service would recommend against using them in your home. Unfortunately, there aren’t any wipes like this that break down easily in your toilet, so it’s best to avoid them.
Other things you should never flush include cotton swabs, makeup removal pads, menstrual products, condoms and more. Cigarette butts are another common cause for clogs, so make sure you aren’t flushing yours if you smoke in your home.
Your Garbage Disposal
While having a garbage disposal in your Knoxville, TN, home might seem like a blessing, it can cause a lot of problems if you aren’t using yours right. Rather than looking at your garbage disposal as something that allows you to put anything in your kitchen sink, you should view it as backup.
Whenever you get the chance, you should throw any chunks of food in the garbage or a compost bin to make sure you don’t need to call a drain cleaning service. You should specifically avoid putting certain foods down your garbage disposal, including egg shells, coffee grounds, celery, bones, grease, fruit pits and pasta. Even if these things seemingly go down your garbage disposal just fine, the truth is they’re causing a lot of problems down the line.
Avoiding paying for expensive drain cleaning services should never be a question of convenience. You can purchase a removable basket that attaches to the corner of your kitchen sink, allowing you to dump cereals and pastas in there to drain them of their liquid before throwing them out. This is a great way to avoid putting the wrong foods down your garbage disposal.
Additional Tips
Aside from watching what you flush and put down your drains and using the right drain cleaners, there are some other small things you can do to make sure you don’t need drain cleaning services frequently.
One of the biggest causes for clogs in the bathroom sinks, tubs and showers is hair. Between shaving and showering, you can lose a lot of hair down the drain where it eventually combines with soap. One simple way to prevent this from happening is to use a drain screen or grate to catch hair. Cleaning hair out of a drain grate may not be the most pleasant experience, but it’s better than letting it clog up your shower drain.
Another way to prevent clogs in your Knoxville, TN, home is to brush your hair before you shower. Losing a bit of hair is normal, especially if you’ve got longer hair. Brushing your hair before you shower gets the loose hairs out so you don’t have to worry about clogging up the drains as much.
Professional Help
When it comes to taking care of your plumbing, preventing clogs is one of the most important things you can do. Drain cleaning services can be expensive, plus it’s hugely inconvenient to have a slow-draining fixture or one that won’t drain at all.
The good news is, you don’t have to fight clogs alone. As one of the top drain cleaning services in the Knoxville, TN, area, My Professional Plumber is happy to help you prevent and treat clogs in your home. We can help you create a plan to prevent clogs in your home so you don’t have to call us, and we can help you unclog drains if anything does happen. To find out more or schedule an appointment today, give us a call at (865) 6622-4101.