Advice for Home Plumbing Blockages - 3 Hot Tips!

The plumbing system in a house is not often considered or thought about. These days, having access to clean drinking water is taken for granted. Your plumbing system not only provides clean water when you need it, but it also removes waste water too. It's typical that we will only notice something that is essentially hidden, such as a plumbing system, until something goes wrong, such as blocked pipes.
In this article, I will outline some strategies to keep your plumbing system in good working order at home. These tips will not only help you avoid clogged pipes, plumbing repairs, and leaks, but they will also aid in the general lifespan and maintenance of your plumbing system.

Harsh Chemicals and Plumbing - Not a Good Combo

What causes a blocked drain?
A blocked drain is one of the most prevalent plumbing problems. This occurs as a result of debris accumulating on the inside of a pipe's wall. Because of items like soap, hair, oil, food particles, and other oily substances, blockages develop. Over time, this can cause the walls of a pipe to become sticky, allowing more debris to cluster and eventually, which causes a blocked drain and pipe.
Getting a chemical drain cleaning solution is one of the first things that people think about when they come across this problem. This may be successful at first, they are extremely corrosive to pipes. Especially because most blockages occur at corners, which is where pipe joins are. The harsh chemicals in drain cleaners can after only a few times, start eating away and creating weakness. It also happens quicker than you might expect due to how quickly chemicals eat away inner lining inside your sewer lines or other types from PVC-based plumbing systems. The wastewater should have an acid base pH balance between 7 - 11, which chemical drain cleaners cause it to reach 12 - 14!
It should also go without saying, the chemicals in drain cleaners are shockingly bad for the environment. 
Therefore, it is highly advisable to go about clearing your blocked drain the old fashioned way.
What is the old fashioned way of dealing with home plumbing blockages?
Use a Plunger for your toilet or plumber's snake for all other drains and pipes. A snake is a long flexible metal structure, cheaply bought from any local hardware store.
If you are unable to do this yourself or haven't the time, hiring a plumber is the best way to guarantee that any blocked pipe will be dealt with immediately and efficiently. A local business can get all of this out for you in no time and usually at an affordable rate!

How to Prevent Blockages

If you're a parent, then one of your worst nightmares is probably the toilet backing up and flooding your home. Also, you know how important it is to keep your kids’ bathroom clean. When your toilet gets clogged, the water will back up and leak out of the tank onto the floor. This can lead to an unpleasant smell in the bathroom and potentially, mould starting to form in the tile grout. 
So, how do these plumbing blockages happen in the first place? And more importantly, is there anything we can do to prevent it from happening?
Here are some tips for preventing home plumbing blockages.

Tip 1: Clean out your drains with baking soda and vinegar every 4-5 months.
Follow these steps for success (step by step instructions): 
a) Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda into the drain. 
b) Add 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar into the drain. 
c) Let it sit for 10 minutes before running water through the drain.

EASY! 

Tip 2: Use Drain Catchers to keep hair out of bath and shower drain holes. An example of drain catchers are screens with openings for water to pass through or metal grids that cover the entire hole.
Drain catchers are also something you should always use while washing the dishes!
Sure you need to dispose of the gunk afterwards, but you are stopping all that gunk from entering your plumbing system!

Tip 3: Don't pour cooking oil or other fats down the sink or garbage disposal. Grease from cooking will accumulate on the sink's trap, which is a necessary element for proper drainage. If you pour grease down the drain or garbage disposal, it will solidify and clog your pipes.
There is a difference between washing a fry pan that you used to fry eggs with olive oil and larger quantities of cooking oil for deep frying. You can use hot water to wash away any olive oil used for steaks or eggs etc, because this is only a small amount.
But deep frying oil that is 100ml or 3fl or more, DO NOT pour this amount down a drain.

If you want to keep your plumbing system in good working order, follow these simple tips. Blockages forming in your plumbing system isn’t really ever on the mind while doing dishes or showering. These blockages can form deep inside a plumbing system and become a serious problem. Plumbers have special equipment for dealing with it but still, it's something that can be avoided by following these few steps.

​Thanks for reading!