Imagine this: you’ve worked hard to create a lovely dinner for Valentine’s Day to present to someone you adore. They will be arriving any minute and you are working on getting the dishes done before they get to your home when, to your horror, your sink starts to back up. You run the garbage disposal but nothing happens.
It’s a less-than-ideal situation popping up at the worst possible time. There’s nothing that can take the romance out of dinner quite like a stinky, backed-up drain. We don’t want you to find yourself caught in this problem so we are going to give you some ideas to help prevent it or deal with it effectively.
Option 1. Keep clog-causers out of the drain
One of the best things to do to avoid frequent clogs is to do what you can to avoid letting clog-causers get into the drain. There is little you can do to stop soap scum or hard water sediment from coating your pipes but there are other items that you can prevent from getting into the drain. These include:
- Hard fruit or vegetable peels
- Fruit or vegetable cores
- Coffee grounds, egg shells, or rice
- Fats, oils, or grease
- Meat bones
- Trash of any kind
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that having a garbage disposal will take care of everything that goes down the drain. These items will build up over time and will clog your drain repeatedly until it is all cleared away. Keep these items out of the drain to easily keep clogs to a minimum.
Option 2. Use helpful home remedies
There are some home remedies that you can use to combat some of the build up that is in your drains. These are better than using chemical drain cleaners which can harm your pipes and leave a large amount of debris behind even after they get things flowing again.
One of the best home remedies to use includes hot water, baking soda, and vinegar. Start by pouring hot water down the drain. Then pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain, following by 1/2 cup of vinegar. Follow all this up with more hot water.
Option 3. Know the signs to catch issues early
You can’t prevent clogs forever. If you know the warning signs that there is something slowing down the drain it can give you a chance to reach out to one of our expert plumbers in Lake Havasu City to clean things out before it ruins your night. The warning signs of an impending clog can include:
- Gurgling or sucking noises when the drain clears
- Extremely slow draining
- Bad smells and drain flies
- Bubbling while water is draining
Be prepared with preventive drain cleaning
One of the best ways that you can care for your drains is with drain cleaning. You can use this as a preventative measure, scheduling drain cleaning once a year, to scour all debris out of your drain. This will ensure that you can avoid clogs from forming when you least expect them.
Contact Air Control Home Services to schedule drain cleaning and ensure your evenings go off without a hitch.
