5 Ways to Reduce Clogs in Your Plumbing

August 23rd, 2019 Posted in Plumbing Maintenance
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When your kitchen sink or bathtub are slow to drain, it is usually a sign a clog is forming in the pipes below. Sticky residue builds up on the inside of the pipes and food, hair and other items collect in these spots, slowly creating a blockage. To reduce the occurrence of clogs in your pipes, make a few changes how you maintain your drains. Improve the drains in your home and reduce calls to your local plumber with these five tips.

  1. Add drain strainers. Use strainers in your kitchen sink and bathtub/shower drains to keep hair, pieces of soap and food debris from going down the drain.
  2. Stop using bar soap. Most bar soaps are made with congealing fats. Switch to liquid soaps to keep the fats in bar soaps from coating the inside of your pipes.
  3. Add a garbage disposal. If you do not have a garbage disposal, consider adding one. Those with 1/2 to 1 HP are the best at grinding food finer to reduce clogs in your kitchen drain pipes.
  4. Keep grease out of your drains. Never rinse out a greasy pan in your sink. First, pour the grease into a container and then wipe the pain with a paper towel. Grease is usually the culprit when it comes to kitchen drain clogs.
  5. Be careful what you flush. Do not flush cotton balls or swabs down the toilet, or anything with plastic, cardboard or rubber. Anything that is not biodegradable should not be flushed.

Make sure to educate everyone in your family on how to reduce clogs to keep your plumbing pipes clear. If you do get a clog, let a plumber handle the removal to protect your pipes from damage.

Posted on behalf of:
Seagraves Plumbing Sewer & Septic
4980 Plant Atkinson Rd SE
Smyrna, GA 30080
(494) 792-2221

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3 Things You Shouldn’t Dump Down Your Drain

July 31st, 2018 Posted in Drains
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Many plumbing problems could be avoided through simply choosing not to allow certain items to go down your drain. It may convenient to dispose of almost any liquid or food item down your drains, but it may not be the best option. Just because something can go down your drain does not necessarily mean it should. In the long run, it can cost you more in time and money if you dump these three things down your drain.

Grease

It may be easy to rinse those greasy pans out with hot water and watch the fat go down your kitchen sink drain, but it can be a big mistake. Shortening, butter and animal fats congeal when they become colder, often sticking to the inside of your pipes. This fatty substance grabs onto debris and can eventually cause a stubborn clog in your drain.

Chemicals

You should be careful of the chemicals you put down your drain. While some household cleaners are perfectly safe, chemicals like turpentine, paint, solvent-based cleaners and automobile fluids should not be allowed to go down the drain. They can be harmful to the environment and may damage your plumbing or septic system.

Foods

You may have a garbage disposal, but that does not mean all food should go down the drain. Even chopped up, hard produce peels, potatoes, egg shells and coffee grounds can all produce nasty clogs in your drain. Some starches like potatoes like create a glue-like substance that grabs ahold of other debris and makes a solid, stubborn clog in your plumbing.

Avoiding putting these three things down the drain can protect your plumbing. However, if you do get a clog, call your local plumber to help you clear your drain the right way.

Posted on behalf of:
Kiddco Plumbing, Inc.
106-M Oakgrove Road
Sterling, VA 20166
(703) 435-4441

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Choosing a Garbage Disposal

December 10th, 2010 Posted in Garbage Disposals
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A garbage disposal can be a handy item to have in the kitchen.  Garbage disposals grind up kitchen scraps and flush them down the drain.  While this results in reduced amounts of garbage, garbage disposals impose and extra burden on sewer and septic systems.  If you are on a septic system, be sure to have your system evaluated by a sewer-septic professional to be sure your system can handle the increased volume of waste and water generated by a garbage disposal.

When choosing a garbage disposal, your first consideration is how much power you need.  The smallest disposals are 1/2 horsepower and are fine for light duty and small households.  If you anticipate heavier usage, consider a 3/4 hp or 1 hp model.  These heavier duty units can handle large amounts of kitchen waste and will jam less frequently.

Garbage disposals are made in two basic types:  continuous feed and batch feed.  Continuous feed disposals are easier to use because you can keep feeding new waste into the unit as it grids up the old waste.  However, continuous units have open drains and are more hazardous because a hand or finger can get into the unit while it is running.

Batch feed units take longer because they have to be loaded and fresh waste cannot be fed into the unit until the previous load has been ground and flushed.  However, they will not run without the stopper in place so they are safer than continuous feed units.

Installation of garbage disposals requires some knowledge of plumbing and electrical work.  If you are not comfortable installing the garbage disposal, you should leave the job to a reputable local plumber with experience in kitchen repairs and garbage disposal installation.

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