Keep your plumbing system in better shape by breaking these common household habits that are causing damage.
Using Liquid Drain Cleaners
Wait, drain cleaners are supposed to be good for your plumbing, aren’t they? Yup, many people assume since liquid drain cleaners’ sole purpose is to get rid of problematic clogs, they must be good for your plumbing, but the opposite is actually true! Store-bought drain cleaning liquids contain caustic chemicals that get rid of clogs by eating away at them. The thing is, over time, those chemicals will also eat away at your pipes, eventually causing leaks.
Using Your Garbage Disposal as a Trash Bin
Your garbage disposal isn’t meant to act as a trash bin for whatever large food scraps you need to get rid of, but most people use it as such. Garbage disposals are designed to grind up those small food bits that inevitably make their way down the kitchen sink drain, nothing more. Putting larger scraps into the garbage disposal can blunt the blades, damage the mechanism, and cause clogs. Toss large food scraps into the compost instead.
Flushing ‘Flushable’ Wipes
We know, you’d think it would be perfectly fine to flush disposable wipes marked “flushable”, right? The fact is, products that are marked flushable, including makeup remover pads, baby wipes, and kitty litter, all take a long time to break down in your pipes, so they are still likely to cause blockages, clogs, and backups. A good rule of thumb is to never flush anything but toilet paper and bodily waste. Everything else can go in the garbage or recycling bin.
Ignoring Leaks
Everyone’s done it. You notice a tiny leak and you just don’t feel like dealing with it, so you tell yourself, “oh, it’s only a minor leak, it’s not causing any damage” and you forget about it for the time being. Even a tiny leak wastes a significant amount of water, and those minor leaks will eventually turn into bigger leaks or even burst pipes if left unchecked. You’ll save yourself time, money, and the inconvenience of having to get major repairs done if you have all leaks fixed as soon as you notice them–before they become a big problem.
Got a plumbing problem? John Sadler is here to help with all of your plumbing repair, installation, and maintenance needs!
