Keep Your Plumbing In Good Shape With These Tips

The plumbing system which snakes throughout your home is complex, consisting of numerous types of piping systems connected to various appliances and fixtures. While every family relies on this system for almost every part of their daily life, from bathing to cooking, most homeowners rarely think about it until a problem develops. 

Unless you want to wake up at 2 am with a burst pipe or experience a nasty backup toilet, you must keep up with your plumbing system’s maintenance. This article shares tips on keeping your plumbing system in tip-top shape. 

Schedule Professional Preventive Inspection And Maintenance

As mentioned, a plumbing system is complex, and most pipes are well-hidden behind walls and floors. While you can easily do a preventive plumbing inspection on your own, you may not know how to get into the hidden pipes and systems. Plus, you may not know what to look for or miss small plumbing issues that could develop over time. 

Keep Your Plumbing In Good Shape With These Tips

To help save time and effort, consider hiring an expert like Fergusons Plumbing Group. Most plumbing firms offer comprehensive inspection and maintenance for your plumbing system. They can examine all areas of your plumbing and pinpoint areas that need replacement or repair to ensure that the overall system is working at its best. They can also provide maintenance service for water-using fixtures and appliances, ensuring they continue operating at optimum levels. 

In general, plumbing systems which receive regular preventive plumbing inspection and maintenance are less likely to develop issues in the future as well as being more energy-efficient than systems that don’t receive attention. 

Watch What You Throw In Your Drains And Toilet

Clogs are the most common problems of any plumbing system. And these blocks and clogs in your drain lines are often caused by none other than you. Have you ever paused and thought about throwing something in your drain or toilet? No, most people don’t bother about what goes down their drains and toilets. 

Remember, your drains and toilets are not garbage cans. Food scraps, peels, and grease don’t go into your kitchen drains. These types of waste can harden inside your pipe and cause annoying clogs over time. 

Also, your toilet is not the right place to throw tissues, baby wipes, and even hair. These types of waste tend to clump together, creating a nasty block on your toilet bowl and causing water backups you’ll never want to experience, especially after taking a dump. 

That said, being mindful of what you shouldn’t throw in your drains and toilet is not enough. Even if you don’t intend to, some debris may end up in your drains. In this case, consider using drain filters and covers. A basic mesh drain should help prevent small objects from falling down in an open drain, protecting your drain pipes.

Don’t Throw All Garbage In Your Disposal

You may think that having a garbage disposal means you can throw away most kitchen waste in it, right? Wrong. Despite its name, there are numerous things that you should never throw in your garbage disposal

For instance, oils and grease should never be thrown in your garbage disposal. Although liquid, this food waste tends to stick and harden on the disposal’s pipe, causing blockages over time. In addition, rice, pasta, eggshells, starchy veggies, and even coffee grounds are some of the items that should never be thrown in your garbage disposals. Most of these food scraps can absorb water or create clumps when grind, which can easily clog your drains. 

Leftover animal bones, like chicken bones, shouldn’t be thrown at your disposal, either. Garbage disposals are not indestructible and are not designed to grind up these exceptionally hard items. Your garbage disposal may be able to handle small fish bones, but anything larger than that, such as chicken leg bones, will simply spin around the unit and damage its grinding mechanism. 

So, be careful what you throw into your disposal, and make sure to use plenty of cold running water whenever you’re using it to avoid messy clogs and backups. 

Plumbing

Don’t Use Chemical Drain Cleaners

If you do encounter slow-draining or fully clogged drains in your bathroom or kitchen, don’t grab the most expensive chemical drain cleaner you can find in your local grocery store and pour it down the drain. 

These types of drain cleaners contain harsh acidic chemicals that offer temporary solutions. Worse, the chemicals can eat up your plumbing pipes, damage your drain pipe, and cause corrosion. 

Consider using the old way of removing clogs, such as a plunger. You can also create your own drain cleaner with a few ingredients that may already be on your kitchen counter, including baking soda and vinegar. Also, you can use a hand-cranked drain snake or even use a makeshift snake using a metal clothes hanger. If all else fails, calling a professional is your best solution. 

Takeaway

There’s no denying the importance of a plumbing system in your home. Just think about how you would go on with your daily life if you didn’t have access to running water or draining away wastewater. That said, as one of the most hardworking systems in your home, you want to take the necessary steps to keep it in the best possible working condition for as long as possible. 


Yvan Lebrun
Yvan Lebrun

Yvan Lebrun is a trusted expert in the field of product & service reviews. With over a decade of experience analyzing and comparing services online, he shares his valuable experience with readers at GoodSitesLike so consumers can make educated decisions before making a purchase.

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