3 Tips for Preventing Clogged Drains

Not many things can be as frustrating as a clogged drain. From a stopped-up shower drain to a blocked sink or an overflowing toilet, these clogs are not only disgusting, but they can be unsanitary and cause damage to your home. Clean-up can take a lot of time and repairs can be costly.

Here are three tips from our Brooklyn plumbing experts to help prevent clogged drains before they happen.

1) Use Drain Strainers for your Shower & Tub

Several factors can cause your shower and tub to not drain properly, leaving you standing in a puddle of water. Soap scum, loose hair, and small children’s bathing toys can drop down into the drain, and over time they can build up, causing a blockage. Along with regular cleaning, a drain strainer placed over the drain can catch hair and small objects, allowing the drain to continue flowing properly.

2) Be Mindful of What You Flush

An overflowing, clogged toilet can make a mess no one wants to deal with. While using the appropriate amount of toilet paper can reduce the chances of clogs, many commonly flushed items should simply stay out of the bowl. Hygiene products, baby wipes, paper towels, cat litter, and “flushable” sanitizing wipes do not dissolve like toilet paper and can get trapped in your plumbing. Avoiding flushing these objects, and of course, keeping that lid closed to avoid an accidental drop like your cell phone, will help reduce the chance of a messy cleanup.

3) Know When to Use the Trash, Not the Garbage Disposal

Kitchen cleanup after a meal can turn into a stomach-churning nightmare when the sink stops draining, leaving a nasty pool of food and dirty water. To help avoid chaos in the kitchen, make sure to carefully choose which items to put into the garbage disposal, as opposed to throwing in the trash.

Hard items such as pits, nuts, seeds, and animal bones can cause damage to the garbage disposal and should be thrown in the trash instead. Also, potato peels, stringy fruits, and outer shells of some vegetables can become wrapped around the blades, causing a blockage.

Fat and grease can harden in the plumbing as it cools, resulting in a build-up, so it is best to let these harden in a container and then scrape into the trash. To help the garbage disposal work most efficiently, always run a stream of hot water while running the unit.

Brooklyn Drain Cleaning Pros

If you get a clog that requires professional assistance, contact Petri Plumbing & Heating and our drain cleaning experts will get your drains flowing again quickly!