3 Ways To Prevent Clogging Your Drain

The most straightforward solutions can often prevent the biggest headaches at home. For clogged drains, it’s about knowing what not to flush down the toilet and what not to throw into the sink. But you don’t have to do everything on your own.

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In emergencies, you can always call a 24-hour plumber here in Orem. If there are burst pipes in your home, a plumber can find the leak, fix it and make recommendations for any damage it may have incurred.

If you are experiencing severe backups from your toilet, a professional can find the best solution for you. But in the meantime, check out these three significant ways to prevent drain blockage in your home.

1. Don’t throw these food items into the sink

In the kitchen, beware of coffee grounds. After drinking a cup of coffee, most people will rinse the cup and let the grounds go down the drain. These can actually build up in pipe corners and eventually clog it. For the same reason, avoid throwing fruit peels and rinds into the sink. They are actually tough to break down.
Starchy foods like potatoes and pasta can turn into a paste that can glue other materials together. The same goes for fat. Try scraping out as much as you can from the pan before washing.

2. Dispose of bathroom products properly

There are bathroom products we use every day that should never go down the drain. At the top of the list is dental floss. Like hair, it can coil and act as a net to trap other materials. Next among those products is liquid soap. Whenever we use shower gel or body wash, a little bit spills down the drain.

Like fat, this unused soap becomes a glue for other gunk. For your toilet, you should know that thick toilet paper is to be avoided at all costs. It may be more comfortable to use, but four-ply tissue doesn’t break down as quickly as regular toilet paper.

Baby wipes and facial wipes have the same effect, and their thickness makes them stick to each other when they get flushed. So make sure to get a lidded waste bin to dispose of these bathroom products properly.

3. Do some preventive maintenance

To keep your drain healthy, watch out for when your drain starts to get smelly or when things don’t go down as fast as they used to. When this happens, it means something is clogging the drain. The following are two of the easiest things you can do to prevent material build-up.

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Try the boiling water method. This is literally just boiling water and pouring it down the drain. Pouring it in intervals is best, so boil enough water to do at least three pours. The first pour will soften the gunk so that the next ones can flush them out better.

Another way to melt down stubborn gunk is to use baking soda and vinegar. Mix ⅓ cup of vinegar with a ⅓ cup of baking soda – it will start fizzing immediately – and pour it down the drain. Let the fizzing take care of anything in your drain that needs to be dissolved.

Follow it up by pouring hot water to clear out your drain even further.

There are times when doing it yourself might cause some damage. But when things escalate, just remember that you can always ask for help.

This is a contributed post.

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3 Ways To Prevent Clogging Your Drain