Last week we covered What NOT to Put Down Your Toilets, Drains, and Garbage Disposal. While knowing this list of not-so-drain-friendly items will help you keep things running smoothly, it's certainly not the only way to prevent clogs.
To help save you from the frustrating inconvenience of clogged drains and plumbing backups, here's a list of easy ways to keep your drains clog-free!
How to Keep Drains Clog-Free
- Cover your drains. The best AND easiest way to keep your drains clog-free is to keep everything but water out in the first place. By placing mesh screens over all of your drains, you'll be able to catch and remove hair, food particles, and other debris.
- Pro Tip: Don't want mesh screens to clash with your décor? Mesh screens can easily be installed under your shower drain cover, so you'll still be able to catch debris without having to look at the buildup.
- Minimize shower shedding. It's impossible to shower without losing some hair to the drain, but you can easily minimize hair-induced clogs by brushing or combing your hair right before you step into the shower. By doing this the majority of your loose hairs will end up in your brush rather than your drain!
- Bathe your pets outside. Weather permitting, washing your pets outside will keep loads of hair out of your drain. And during colder months when pets need to be bathed inside, you can block the drain with a washcloth to keep their fur out of your pipes OR opt to bathe them in a washtub you can empty outside rather than in your bathtub.
- Give your garbage disposal a break. The more you compost, the less opportunity you'll have to clog your garbage disposal. On top of that, using your garbage disposal less will also help you save water and energy! Not a gardener? Give your composted materials to a community garden!
- Educate your kids on drain-friendly items. Kids love to learn, so teach them where your water goes when it drains and why they should be careful with what they put down the drain. Also, keep an eye on what they play within the tub making sure no toys are smaller than the drain and be sure they understand toys should never be flushed (no matter how fun it may be for them to see their favorite toy swirling around in the toilet).
- Fill your own plumbing toolbox. No matter how careful you are, you're bound to experience a clog at some point as a homeowner — maybe a guest flushes too much toilet paper, maybe you drop something you know isn't drain-friendly, and so on. For such occasions, it's helpful to have a quality plunger and/or drain snake on hand to be able to take care of small problems immediately on your own before they turn into big, expensive problems.
If you're having trouble with your drains and are looking for help, give Ken’s Plumbing a call! You can reach us by phone anytime at (864) 242-5511, or click the banner below to schedule service online. You can also fill out our contact form to ask our professionals even more about what items are or are not safe to throw down the drain!
If you enjoyed this plumbing article, please check out other posts on our blog and join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ to see why the Greenville, SC area calls us "The Picky People's Plumber!"
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