Ken's Plumbing | Blog

In our last post, we talked about natural bathroom cleaners that can help you keep your bathroom surfaces disinfected without using dangerous chemicals.

This week we’ll focus on how to unclog a drain without commercial drain cleaners such as Drano or Liquid Plumr.

Of course, the best step is prevention. To learn how to avoid problems in the first place, read our post on preventing clogs before they happen.

Why should I avoid chemical drain de-cloggers?

Using natural cleaners helps you remove unnecessary toxins from your home, plus avoid headache-inducing fumes. In the case of drain cleaners, however, there’s also another factor consider: Regular use of commercial drain cleaning products can actually damage your pipes!

While we receive plenty of calls to service residents and commercial business owners in Upstate, SC, we answer a lot calls on drain clogs, too. Even at Ken's, we can EASILY attest to how annoying these clogs are, and many fall prey to having a tub drain clogged without realizing it until they're already taking a shower. In order to prevent this from happening in the future, take a look at some of our tips on keeping your sink or tub unclogged.

Your home's plumbing system is important to the health of your home. Your sewer line removes wastewater from every pipe in your home, from your shower, toilets, or sinks, gallons of water are expended from your home and into the main sewer line every day. Therefore, it's understandable if there are some sewer line issues every now and then—it performs a big responsibility every day whether you're thinking about it or not. But it's always a great idea to remember the key components when wondering if it's time to repair your sewer line. Let's break it down here:

If you're connected to a sewer system, your water drains through a network of pipes that increase in size the closer they get to the wastewater treatment plant. Every drain in your home is connected to a pipe that moves used water from your house to a sewer in the street called your sewer line.

Garbage disposals are kind of magical, aren't they? You just throw your food scraps down there and they get chopped up and washed away without ever rotting and taking up room in your trashcan!

But as with anything, there are some tips and tricks to keep things running smoothly, and some things to know so you can avoid a disaster. We're here to fill you in on all the garbage disposal "dos" and "don'ts" so you can keep choppin' without stoppin'.

We've all been there... Standing by the sink, washing our hands, and then suddenly we drop something valuable down the drain. Our first thought is normally something like, "Oh no, my wedding ring! I'll never see it again!"

While our second thought is more along the lines of, "Wait, I can probably devise a plan to fish this out!" Before you grab the tackle box to go fishing down your drain, hook, line and sink yourself into these instructions on how to properly retrieve the priceless item you dropped down the drain.

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!

Have you ever not known how to dispose of something so you said, "Eh, I'll just flush it down the toilet!" In those situations, have you ever considered that maybe that's not the best option?  

There are actually very few things that are okay to put down the drain, so if you have to ask yourself, "Is it safe to put this down the drain?" the answer is probably, "No." So, while you probably know the stuff that is drain-friendly (human waste, greywater, etc.), let's discuss the items that are NOT safe to dispose of down your drain. 

Does your home's drainage system need an update, but you cringe at the thought of having to dig up your perfectly manicured lawn for it to be installed? Well, what if we told you there's another way... 

Thanks to modern trenchless drain technology, also called trenchless pipe bursting or trenchless sewer replacement, your underground pipes can be replaced with very little damage to your lawn. How? 

Let's explore that in more depth...

Can you believe spring is less than a month away? We definitely understand how the seasonal change could have crept up on you leaving you feeling a little under-prepared, but just like we helped you with winterizing your home, we're here to help you with the changing of the seasons again as winter turns to spring.

Believe it or not, there are actually many ways to prepare your plumbing for spring, though unfortunately none of them involve turning your toilet into an exotic planter (though if you'd like to try that, we'd LOVE to see pictures)!

In that case, let's get started...