subject: The Causes, Preventions And Solutions For Blocked Drains [print this page] Blocked drains can be a real painBlocked drains can be a real pain. Drains are a part of our daily life and there is no home or office that doesnt use the drainage system every single day. Our bathrooms, kitchens, roofs and the outside of our homes all have and need drains to send water down through. Due to daily use and mistakes made on our parts, these drains occasionally get blocked. Here are some common causes, preventions and cures for blocked drains.
Causes:
Hairy Situations Were all continuously loosing hair. Hair doesnt melt, change texture or evaporate once it goes through a pipe. It gathers and can entangle other things in it which can block a drain.
Flushing the un-flushable Some of us think that flushing small things down the toilet wont cause a problem. If it can flush it can get through the whole pipe line, cant it? Well, it cant. Pipes get smaller and smaller and if you flush something like a nappy or baby wipe down the toilet it can collect and block a drain.
Making a Drainage Salad Letting food go down your kitchen sink is a common cause. Small pieces of food can and will block your drains because they can collect and are not always washed away by water.
The oops moment Dropping something in the toilet and not taking it out, hoping it will have a safe journey through is always a big mistake. Whatever it may be, youre better off retrieving it than letting it go.
Flush Experiment Kids and some adults even, sometimes like to watch things flush down the toilet for fun. The toilet is not a toy and should not be treated like one.
Preventions:
Make sure you have strainers covering pipes and throw away things that gather on the strainers.
Remove hair from sink and bathtub immediately so hair doesnt get stuck in the pipes.
Have a bin next to the toilet so anything that needs to be thrown goes in there and not the toilet.
Be careful about what you bring near the toilet. Dont place items near the toilet so there isnt a chance of them falling in.
Remind everyone that the toilet is not a toy
Block or cover overflows & external grates
Solutions:
Plunger this is a common product used for blocked drains. Its easy to use and works almost all the time when the problem is addressed immediately
Plumber's Snake - This is a flexible steel cable wound around a hand crank. For sinks, bathtubs and shower drains a 25 or 30 foot cable is the standard and usually sufficient
Blocked Drain Solutions There are many liquids available in the market that can work on unclogging pipes without damaging the pipes
High Pressure Water Jet These are great for clearing dirt and grease from drains. Water jets are particularly useful for drains with limited access
Pipe relining This is the solution for a worst case scenario. When nothing can be done, new pipes come in
When simple solutions dont work for you, it is best to call a Master Plumber. Letting an expert do what hes good at is a more cost effective solution than buying every available product in the market. Sometimes our solutions dont work because we dont know the cause of the blocked drain, so whatever we try fails. Tree roots for example are a common problem that we cant see and only a Master Plumber can assess and resolve.
The best solution however is always prevention, so keep your pipes clean!
