What You Can do to Prevent Your Drains From Clogging

If you’ve ever taken a shower with the water up to your ankles or had to brush your teeth over an overflowing sink, you know that a clogged drain can be quite frustrating. Unfortunately, it’s a common issue that many of us will face at some point. A clogged drain can disrupt your daily routine in a way that feels as annoying as stubbing your toe. However, you don’t have to accept a clogged drain as a part of life. There are several effective measures you can take to prevent your drains from becoming clogged, and some of them might even surprise you.

Why Your Drain is Clogged

Before we delve into prevention, starting with the causes of clogged drains is a good idea. After all, prevention always starts with understanding the cause! So what exactly causes a drain to clog? There are quite a few things, and frankly, a lot of them are unsavory:
Hair– This is widespread and highly likely to make you queasy. Over time, a knotty build-up of hair (both human and animal) can cause clogged drains everywhere, from the shower to the bathroom sink. Mix in a backlog of hair with soap and dirt, and you can quickly end up with a drain problem.
Food– Even if you are a careful plate clearer, occasionally, it’s easy for a stray noodle to slip its way off your plate and right down your drain. Even something as small and simple as some coffee grounds or some grains of rice can become a problem in the long term. If you have a garbage disposal, you might think you’re safe, but we have bad news: You aren’t. Try to keep food from ending up in the sink as much as possible, or else run the risk of a clogged kitchen sink. Be especially aware of oil or grease going down your sink drain!
Water—This may seem totally counterintuitive, but even water can, over time, lead to drain clogging. Why? If you live in an area with hard water or super-rich water in calcium and magnesium, the mineral build-up can cause drains to clog. Most public water systems in our region are known to have this hard water; it is quite common.

Other Objects—A few other things can quickly cause major clogging issues when they go down a drain.
Including:
-Dental floss
-Diaper wipes
-Feminine hygiene products
-Cat litter
-Cotton swabs
-Small objects such as toys, especially if you have children.

Even if you don’t think you are having any of these problems, you may one day wake up and find that one of the drains in your home is clogged. So, what can you do to prevent this from happening?

Preventing Drains From Clogging

Keeping the above causes in mind, there are a number of things that you can do to keep your drains from clogging:
-Always use a drain strainer when washing your dishes.
-Pour hot water down your drain on a weekly basis to clear out any potential oil, grease, or dirt buildup.
-If you don’t use a drain stopper in your tub, use one! Clean it regularly to ensure any hair, soap, or dirt is cleared out.
Consider installing drain screens on all of your drains. These screens can be easily found at most hardware stores and can work wonders for your drains.

How to Unclog a Drain

Even if you do your best to prevent your drains from clogging, there’s a good chance that at some point you will encounter a clog. If you do encounter a clog, there are some pretty straightforward solutions that you can try to get your drain unclogged and functioning properly:
-Use a plunger on your drain and see if you can suction whatever is causing the drain blockage loose.
-Try pouring boiling hot saltwater down your drain. If that doesn’t work, try pouring a mix of baking soda and vinegar down your clogged drain, and shortly after, follow up with hot water.

If these tactics don’t work, you can try using a plumber’s snake, or if it is a sink clog, you can try cleaning your P-trap. However, we would not recommend this unless you are experienced with plumbing. Instead, we recommend that you contact the professionals at Appolo for any of your cleaning, repair, or replacement plumbing needs.