1. Keep Your Garbage Disposal Clear
Your garbage disposal is very important to keep clear because it is the gateway to your kitchen drain. It always helps to run cold water down your garbage disposal to keep food from sticking to your pipes during and after you use your garbage disposal.
Our plumbers suggest it’s better if you put everything you can in the trash. Only small bits of food are safe for the disposal, but there are definitely some things that should never go in the garbage disposal if you can help it. Things that can clog your drains are coffee grounds, seeds or pits, eggshells, pasta, rice, potatoes, bones, as well as stringy or fibrous foods.
2. Use a Sink Strainer in Your Drains
Our plumbers at Honest Plumbing suggest a really simple and cheap way to keep your bathroom and kitchen drains clear is to buy a sink strainer that fits in the bottom of your sink over the drain hole. The sink strainer will catch pieces of food, hair, and other things you don’t want down the drain. A sink strainer over the tub drain will prevent hair, soap and sometimes toys from going down your drain.
3. Your Toilet is Not a Trash Can
Toilets really have limited use. Always be careful what you flush down your toilet. Some people don’t know that baby or hand wipes and feminine hygiene products should never be flushed down the toilet. Really the only things that belong in a toilet are human waste and toilet paper. Everything else should go in the trash can.
Here’s a good list of things that should NOT go into the toilet: tissues, wipes of any kind (even if they say they are flushable), scrub pads, paper towels or napkins, dental floss, any grease or oil, all feminine hygiene products, hair, medicines, plastics, diapers and of course, eggshells, nutshells and coffee grounds.
Here’s the flush ability test for objects to be flushed in a toilet. If the object or product doesn’t disintegrate like toilet paper, then it shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet. Too much of some of these items can cause a blockage in your drain and maybe even clog a pumping station which could cause a sewer backup that affects other homes. Keep in mind that the drains leading to the main sewer are only 4 inches wide. You can help keep them clear by putting everything in the trash that isn’t human waste or toilet paper.
4. No Grease in Your Drains
All grease, fats, and oils should never go in any drain if you can help it. Try to always pour greasy substances in a container like a glass jar or an empty can. Please don’t use your drain for grease. Bacon grease is a common culprit of clogged drains. Find another container to put it in and then throw it in the trash when the grease has solidified.
These 4 ways to keep your drains clog-free are pretty simple, but our plumbers at Honest Plumbing in Arvada have seen each and everyone cause clogs across the Denver metro area that require our expertise to get drains running clean again. If you end up with a clog, feel free to get in touch to request an appointment – we promise not to lecture you about putting potato peels or coffee grounds down your drain.
