Many people don’t pay attention to the choking of their drainage system until it’s too late. Dirt from soap, toothpaste and hair make a very resistant-to-removing composition of dirt. One day we notice that the sink takes longer to drain, the water pooling around your feet in the shower and, of course, the stench. Those are the warning signs that your drain is on its way to be clogged. You need to deal quickly with this kind of problems, or face the risk that a burst pipe or a useless bathroom awaits you in the relatively near future.

Clean to Prevent

Prevention is better than cure and every household owner should clean his drains regularly. You don’t need to use hard chemicals or numerous commercial products, but any available physical objects (plunger) and all the green methods. Drain clogs are best prevented by good habits and basic maintenance. According to a reputed Sydney-based drain cleaning service, you should clean your sink strainers as often as you can.
You also don’t want to dump neither food (it should go in the dustbin) nor grease (let it cool, put it in a container and throw it away) in the sink. And always run cold water while you’re grinding up food scraps, otherwise food particles will build up in the drain.  The sink stopper in the bathroom should be cleaned frequently. Avoid flushing paper towels or other paper products down toilets. To dissolve the buildups before they cause blockage, pour hot water down your drain once a week. Have your home septic system (if you have one) inspected every few years because it may need pumping.

Get Down to It

But drains and pipes get clogged, especially if you don’t live on your own, and it’s the most normal thing. Everyone should know a few do-it-yourself tricks for unclogging your drains.
  • The first thing that pop into everyone’s mind is touse your plunger, see if you can unclog it. If that doesn’t work, try the simplest and effective tool – the bent wire hanger. Take a regular wire coat hanger, straighten it out, and then bend one end over to create a small hook. Push that in and start unblocking, but remember that you want to pull the gunk out, not push it further in. After that, run some hot water in the drain.
  • You need some boiling water, two cups of baking soda and one cup of vinegar (alternatively, get as much of the dry baking soda as you can down the drain first, then pour on the vinegar). Pour it down the clogged drainand let it sit for at least one hour. The fizzing action will help to remove the filth that has built up in the pipe and after that flush with hot water.
  • Sometimes, only a kettle of boiling water may be of great assistance. Clogs develop because of fats and oils that get cold in the pipe, so hot water can dissolve the blockage and clear the clog. You can also mix it with salt, borax, vinegar and lemon acid.
  • If none of these works, don’t hesitate to call a drain cleaning service. They have the tools and equipment for drain cleaning allows you to save your money, and letting the process run smoothly so you can get on with your life.
Drain blocking can be a headache. So try to prevent it with simple routines like pouring hot water in it and disposing food and grease in a trash can. On the other hand, it’s the most normal and frequent thing that happens to everybody, but when it does – act immediately by using these tips, and reduce the risk of bigger problems like pipe bursting or a stinky useless bathroom.
January 5, 2015
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