Drains Clog When You Least Expect It

Picture this: You’re in the middle of hand-washing dishes in your kitchen sink. However, the minute you turn the faucet off, the leftover water at the bottom of the basin sits there, motionless. If you have run into a similar problem before, then there’s a chance your home may have a clog or drainage issues throughout.

Before reaching for a bottle of liquid drain cleaner — something you should never do — here’s what might have caused that clog in the first place.

Common Reasons for Drainage Issues at Home

Using Your Sink Drain as a Garbage Can

Sometimes when you’re preparing dinner, it may seem rather harmless to take any leftover food scraps you have on the counter and toss them into your sink drain — rather than a nearby garbage can. And if you don’t have a garbage disposal in your home, there’s a greater chance that food will sit in the drain and create a small blockage — giving water no place to travel once it has been used.

To help avoid this altogether, it’s highly recommended to dispose of any food scraps and small pieces of garbage into a nearby trash receptacle. Doing so will help eliminate the narrowing of the drain pipe and prevent a potential problem. Now, if you do happen to have a garbage disposal in your home, you can get away with putting some food particles down it such as:

• Scraps of meat (only if it’s cooked)

• Soft vegetable skins

• Soft fruit skins

However, you’ll want to avoid tossing anything dense or something that can absorb water when put into the drain — otherwise, it can snap the blades of your disposal or create a drain blockage. Another drain to be mindful of is your toilet bowl — which tends to clog more frequently than other drains in your humble abode.

Misusing Your Toilet Bowl

A toilet bowl is an essential plumbing fixture in many homes and businesses. However, many will use their “throne” as a second trash receptacle — similar to the kitchen sink drain mentioned earlier.

If a toilet is clogged, there’s a chance water will continuously rise and spill over the sides of the bowl — causing a plumbing catastrophe. That said, a toilet bowl should only be used to flush human waste and toilet paper — not:

• “Flushable” wipes

• Feminine hygiene products

• Cotton swabs

• Toiletry items

• Plastic wrappers (i.e., the protective seal around mouthwash)

• Hair, and the list goes on.

Being more mindful of what you dispose of in your toilet bowl can save you from a headache. Still, it can even prevent an unimaginable plumbing problem from occurring — just like a problematic sewer.

Your Sewer Line Needs Repair

As it’s known, your sewer line is a very important part of your home’s plumbing system; it’s where used-water exits your humble abode before it leaves your property altogether. However, if there’s an obstruction somewhere along the way of a pipe that leads to your sewer (i.e., the root of a tree), then you could encounter a clog — especially if you’re disposing of the wrong products down your toilet and drains.

While many times a hydro jetting appointment can clear out a stubborn pipe and resume your plumbing back to normal, other times, you may need to have your sewer repaired to solve the problem at hand. Another factor to keep in mind is that hard water can also cause a clog in your home — but how so?

Hard Water is Present in Your Home

Believe it or not, hard water can cause a pretty severe clog in your home — and it’s typically because of how it interacts with other items deposited into your drains, such as soap. While hard water is known to have a high mineral concentration, as it turns out, those minerals in that quality of H2O can interfere with soap scum and residue. Over time, it can solidify their byproducts and narrow the passage for water to travel through.

To combat this, a whole-home reverse osmosis system can help. This system will help purify the water in your living space, breaking down contaminants that may be inhabiting your H2O and so forth. Having this product installed will help keep your water as clean as possible, helping rid of hard water and helping prevent clogged drains.

When You Encounter a Clogged Drain, Give Moe Plumbing Services a Call!

If you run into a problem with a drain in your home, Moe Plumbing Services is here to help. To schedule an appointment, give us a call at (818) 396-8002!