Be Nice To Your Drains!

Introduction

Drains really are one of those things everyone takes for granted. We don’t see them; we really don’t even think about them, and so we are often not very nice to them. But what would we do without them?

A Drain Is A Drain

Well not really. We have internal drainage in our homes like the type you find in your sink or bath, but we also have drainage coming from dishwashers, washing machines and more. We also have external drains and these are often the ones where the big problems can occur. While we may notice a slow draining bath because of too much hair, most people would never even think about the drain that goes from their house to the main sewer pipe in the road. But they are all linked and treating one badly can have knock on effects and cause big problems with the other. This problem works both ways too! By blocking an internal drain you can block an external drain but a blocked external drain can cause all manner of issues inside the home too.

A Case In Point – Worthing

A few weeks ago we attended a call out in Worthing where the customer was reporting slow draining sinks in the house and an odd smell outside. We do a lot of blocked drain work in Worthing but this case was an interesting one. The issue was around a fat and baby wipe build up on the main drain outside the home. They had been putting hot fat down the sink after a Sunday fry up every week for months and months which is bad enough. However, a recent arrival of a baby meant a huge number of non-biodegradable baby wipes had been added to this via the toilet. The result?….a big blockage. Eventually the fat would have caused a big issue but it was the perfect storm when the added material got involved too.

Common Problems

Of course, Worthing isn’t the only place this kind of issue happens, these issues are very common across the UK and beyond! The cause of most of the issues is simply that people do not know what they should and should not put down the sink or toilet. Most of the time if it doesn’t block there and then people assume it is OK but more often than not it is the cumulative effect that causes the issue and not a single event.

What Should You Do?

First of all, do not put fats and oils down the sink – this blog post explains why in more detail – Fats and Oils

But on top of that try to avoid mashing too much food after washing up, use a plug catcher to get the worst of the food and put it in the bin. Foods like pasta, cereal and rice can cause a lot of problems. Avoid putting baby wipes in the toilet, it is hard, but they can really cause some big problems. The key really is to think before you put anything into your drainage system. If it can possibly be removed and put into the bin then do it because the less solid or waste likely to solidify that goes into the drains the better.

Be nice to your drains and whilst we do love to be busy we also appreciate you may not really want to call us so the nicer you are to your drains the less likely you are to need us!