Avoid Plumbing Problems: drain maintenance

It's not an exciting or pleasant job, but keeping your drains performing at their best will make your life much easier. There are a number of ways to do this, but the best – and easiest – way is practicing regular drain maintenance.

Maintain your drains to avoid plumbing problems

There are three simple steps to maintaining your plumbing and drainage:

1. Know what not to put down the drain

The list isn’t long, but it’s very important: NEVER pour liquid fats, oils, or grease down the drain. As they cool, they solidify and cling to the insides of pipes, building up and reducing the volume of the pipes. Other things that should never be put down your drains include:

• Eggshells, they catch on other items and grow into larger clogs.
• Coffee grounds, they stick to pipe walls and build into a paste.
• Pasta, rice or flour, they just don't wash away easily and will build up.
• Hair, get a filter or a stopper for your bath or shower

2. Clean your drains the correct way

The answer is not chemical drain cleaners. It’s neverchemical drain cleaners.

If you don't want to damage your drains and pipes, do not use chemical drain cleaners, they can’t tell the difference between the blockage and the pipe. So once a chemical drain cleaner finishes eating away at a clog, it’s going to keep going and eat away at your pipes too. Instead, use less damaging methods:

• Pour a large jug of very hot (but not boiling) water down the drain. Follow it with some cool water to flush out the clogs you hopefully started to dissolve, and to see if the flow has improved.
• If hot water doesn't do the job, you can try baking soda and vinegar. We recommend giving your drains this treatment once a month. All you have to do is pour half a cup of baking soda down your drain and chase it with half a cup of vinegar. Plug the sink and let it sit, overnight would be ideal. Flush the drains with hot water in the morning and they’ll work (and smell) like they’re brand new.

3. Have the right tools on-hand for removing clogs

Three useful things to have to hand: an auger, a snake, and a cup plunger. These three tools all work to help remove clogs when they occur despite your best efforts. Cup plungers work on small clogs, and snakes work on the bigger ones.

If you are in the Essex, Suffolk or North London area and have any questions about maintaining the integrity of your drains, or need to talk to someone about fixing a plumbing issue, give ABS Plumbing and Drainage a call on 07766 668888.