Drains, filter and flush away all the debris, food particles, or shampoo from your sink or bathroom floor. You may not be aware of the number of pipes that are running under your house floor and in ceilings above you. These pipes bring and drain gallons of water and other stuff that is thrown down in the drains every day. So it is only natural that with time they get greasy, dirty and clogged. Keeping drains clean should be your top priority when doing the maintenance of your house. However, it is often observed that people do not pay attention until it is too late, and they see a blockage in their drains. If you do experience water built up in your sinks and pools of water accumulating in your yard that is because your drains have been clogged. It’s best to call a professional plumber to deal with this problem. With several plumbing services in the area, the blocked drains in Sydney are not much of a problem.

You can certainly avoid frequent visit of your plumbers by adopting a few of our ways:

Hot Water

Hot water has numerous benefits. Not only it can cure cough, flu and can relieve you from back pain, but it can also solve many household issues. It has this inherent quality that it removes obstruction and uses its strength to make its way. After washing the dishes or using a bathroom just drain a small amount of hot water. It will clean the drain from any dirt that might be stuck in it causing it to block.

Baking Soda

Baking soda comes handy when domestic problems occur without any warning. Although blockage of drain usually doesn’t occur overnight, it happens when drains are left with debris and food particles in them for a long time. You don’t have to wait till your drain gives you a red signal to toss baking soda down in the drain. It is better to put baking soda every ten to fifteen days, to make sure the drainpipes are all clear.

Strainers

Thorough cleaning of drains once a month is much more complicated than regular daily cleaning. A small strainer above the drain, especially in the sink, gathers coffee grounds, food particles and doesn’t let it strain down the drain. While washing dishes, do make a habit of keeping a strainer right above the drain, once you are done with the dishes throw the trash in the bin and your drain will not give you any trouble.

Vinegar

Your kitchen cabinets have ingredients that can help you in these urgent situations. Vinegar is made up of acetic acid and chemicals. It comes in different flavors and is commonly used to enhance the taste of various food items. A cup of vinegar, if poured down the drain, reacts with water and immediately creates bubbles in it. These bubbles clean and clear the blockage of the pipes and drains. Additionally pour a cup of water and then your drain pipes with be as good as new.

Lye

Lye is a strongly alkaline solution made up of potassium hydroxide. Lye is used for cleaning and washing. Small cubes of lye are used for keeping the drain clean. Although lye is a dangerous material, hence it is recommended that lye is used with caution and in a small amount. To keep the drains free of blockage you can put two or three small cubes of lye, once a month in drains.

Lint Catcher

You would be surprised to know, but very often it is the lint or broken pieces from your garments that block the drain. Once the clothes are in a washing machine, some lose buttons, or other stuff often breaks down. It gets difficult to catch these broken pieces once you have washed the clothes and the water has been drained. To prevent these bits of articles from getting stuck in the pipes and blocking the drain, you can install a lint catcher in your washing machine hose. You need to empty it after every wash.

Grease

Grease may look harmless, but it is one of the worst things that you can let run through your pipes. Often while doing the dishes, people tend to put the dishes directly in the sink without cleaning the grease. This does not block the pipes right away, but the worst part is that grease does not drain away but stays on the walls of pipes. It is better to clean the dishes with a paper towel before putting the dishes in the sink. This will prevent the grease from going into the pipes and will help in keeping the drains clean. Moreover, there is a lot of personal hygiene stuff that is also greasy for example, shaving foam, face wash, cleansing lotion are also greasy.

Hair

If you have ever seen your bathroom drain, you might have noticed a lot of your hairs are blocking your shower drain. Hair fall is a common epidemic, and a shower is a place where you lose most of your hair. You need to catch your hair before it reaches the drain because once it is in the drain, then it is most probably going to block it. Lately, different equipment is available in superstores to solve this problem; for example, a pop-up stopper is a special kind of magnet that is installed in a drain. It catches the hair. Installing it in the drain and then cleaning it every alternate day would not let the hair build up in the drain. Hence your drain pipes would be free of any loose hair.

Wastebasket

The drains in your home are not your wastebasket. It seems convenient to throw food bits in a sink or to dump trash in toilets. No matter how lazy you feel, do not do this. This does not only obstruct your drains but also damage your drain to a great extent.

10.Store Bought Cleaners

There is always an easy and short way of solving a problem, although it usually is neither effective nor a long-lasting solution. Store-bought cleaners are such an example. Dumping a small amount of cleaner in the drain gives the immediate result, but they should be used with extreme caution. It is better to use them only in severe and urgent situations and not make them part of a regular cleaning regime.

Conclusion

Keeping your drains clean is a part of hygiene. Clogged drains allow the bacteria to grow, fruit flies appear ann besides, it creates odor too, and before you would know your whole place would start stinking. The clogged drain does not start to smell immediately, it takes a while. Before you can notice a lot of damage would have already been done. If cleaning the drain is not a part of your regular cleaning regime, you need to include it immediately. When drains are cleaned with regular intervals, blockages are hardly formed.