To reduce the risk of your drains getting blocked, it’s a sensible idea to familiarise yourself with what should – and, more importantly, shouldn’t – be poured down plug holes or flushed away.
If your drainage system encounters little else other than wastewater from sinks, basins, toilets, etc., it’s likely to serve you well. However, if any of the major causes of blocked drains discussed below affect your pipework, the system may well struggle to continue functioning.
Indeed, if you’ve noticed signs of blocked drains at home or work, including strange gurgling noises and frequent backups, it’s time to act. You can contact Mega-Rod for expert Bath and Bristol drain unblocking and drain cleaning services.
If you like to treat yourself occasionally to indulgent meals such as roast dinners and homemade fish and chips, you’ll need to dispose of cooking fat and/or cooking oil.
When fat or oil is warm, it’s runny – and so some people assume it can be safely poured down the kitchen sink. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Take it from the drain unblocking specialists here at Mega-Rod: drains can’t cope with fat or oil.
The problem is these substances harden as they cool down. What you pour down the plughole after dinner could be well on its way to becoming a drain obstruction by bedtime.
So, what’s a better way to dispose of cooking oil and fat at home? When it’s cooled a little but is still runny, carefully pour it into a sturdy, sealable container, as Expert Home Tips suggests. Once the contents are completely cold, put the container in the bin.
If you work in catering and need to dispose of a large quantity of cooking oil or fat, a specialist recycling service can collect it and do something amazing with it. In Bristol, for example, these waste products are transformed into green biofuel!
Perhaps your sink has a kitchen waste disposer. This electronic device grinds up food scraps so they can travel through your drains without creating obstructions.
However, waste disposers aren’t suitable for all types of food. If you dispose of fibrous or sludgy scraps (such as potato peelings or coffee grounds) this way, you may soon require our rapid response drain unblocking service.
If in doubt, put food waste in the bin. And if you don’t have a kitchen waste disposer, consider placing a sink strainer over the plughole to stop any scraps from reaching the drains.
Although drains can cope with a reasonable amount of toilet paper, the thick, quilted variety may cause congestion. That’s because it doesn’t break down as quickly or easily as conventional, thinner toilet paper.
If you normally buy luxury toilet paper for your home, why not switch to a two-ply or one-ply alternative? You can save money and reduce your chances of experiencing clogged drains at the same time. And if you manage a building that has numerous toilets and often needs drain jetting or similar services, you could stock up on what’s known as rapid-dissolving toilet paper.
People in the UK use an incredible eleven billion wet wipes each year – and we know from unblocking countless drains that an awful lot of them get flushed away. Many wet wipes and baby wipes are marketed as flushable, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re suitable for your drainage system.
‘Although they’ll disappear when you flush, they won’t completely leave your drains,’ explains the UK’s largest water company, Thames Water. Because the wipes are designed to remain intact when damp, they easily get stuck in pipes, where they become magnets for other drain debris. The only wipes you should flush down the toilet instead of throwing away are ones with the water industry’s Fine to Flush certification mark on their packaging. They’ve been tested to ensure they don’t cause problems.
On the subject of bathroom-related blockages, never try to flush away nappies, tampons, pads or anything else that’s highly absorbent and/or increases in size when wet. Always put those items in the bin instead to protect your drains.
From pouring cooking oil down the sink to flushing away wet wipes – there are many ways in which people inadvertently compromise drainage systems. Indeed, blocked drains are a fact of life.
Thankfully, you can rely on the Mega-Rod drain unblocking team to rapidly locate and resolve problems using advanced CCTV technology and tried-and-tested unblocking methods. We’ve been providing drain unblocking and drain cleaning services for over 40 years and cover Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area.
Struggling with blocked drains? Call 01225 422980 today for prompt assistance.
