In our many years of experience as reliable Pittsburgh plumbers, our clients have come to us with a wide range of plumbing concerns and difficulties. One of the most common problems many homeowners encounter is a clogged drain. Although a nuisance, clogged drains are relatively simple for our professional plumbing experts to handle and even easier for homeowners to avoid with the simple tips below.
1. Install a hair catcher in your bathroom drains and clean it out after every shower. It's easy for hair to get caught on the drainage pipes and accumulate over time, significantly decreasing the rate at which your water drains down the drain.
2. Don't pour grease down your kitchen sink. Instead collect grease in cans, freeze and dispose of them in the garbage.
3. Pour hot water down your drains at least once a week to melt fat or loosen any hair or other debris that may have built up. Run the water for a few minutes afterward to wash away any remaining particles.
4. Avoid flushing anything down your toilet except for toilet paper. This includes cigarette butts, floss, sanitary napkins, etc.
5. Dispose of all food waste in the trash can if your kitchen sink does not have a garbage disposal.
6. If you have hard water, it can combine with regular hand soap residue that can build up inside your pipes over time. Whenever practical, use liquid soap to avoid build-up or hand sanitizers that do not require rinsing.
7. Make sure your septic tank is pumped out regularly (usually every two or three years). If you are on a municipal sewer line, have an experienced plumber snake out your pipes at about the same frequency.
8. Avoid pouring commercial chemical cleaners down your drains. They typically cannot remove entire clogs and can erode your pipes, which may cause leaks and bigger problems with repeated use.
9. If you have a basement drain system, keep your drain pipe out of the mud zone. This prevents mud from slowly working its way through the gravel and into your filters where it can eventually block your perimeter drain systems.
10. Consider installing a sump pump, especially if your area experiences heavy rains for a significant portion of the year. It will drain water more efficiently than a passive drain system and help prevent clogs.
11. At the first sign of a slow drain, find the root of the problem or contact Stahl Plumbing as soon as you can.
Call us for assistance with different types of residential plumbing problems, including dishwasher repair, sewer line replacement and drain cleaning. Our professional plumbing experts are ready to come to your Pittsburgh and Allegheny county residence 24/7.
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