Why Drain Cleaning Should Be on Your Spring Cleaning Checklist

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Spring is here and that means it’s time to spruce up your home, get rid of the stale feeling of being shut up for winter, and give yourself a fresh start to the rest of the year. Spring cleaning is a vital part of your annual home cycle and includes a lot of cleaning and maintenance projects that are desperately needed after months of cold weather, short days, and limited opportunity to really work on what your home needs. However, while many people undertake common tasks like thorough dusting, scrubbing floors, and shampooing carpets to remove the year’s dust and debris accumulation, many people overlook one of the messiest and highest-traffic areas of their home: their drains.

It’s easy to see why this is the case—your drains are out of sight, and therefore stay largely out of mind until something happens and your drain backs up. However, taking the opportunity to maintain your drains now could prevent you from having to deal with the stress of a blockage over the course of this year. Here are a few helpful tips from the pros at PF Plumbing as to how you can benefit from drain cleaning this spring and what you can do to keep your drains clean.

3 Great Reasons to Clean Your Drains

Here are three great reasons to have your drains cleaned as a part of your spring cleaning regimen. Even though all of your drains might be moving smoothly, your drains may be filling up with grime, gunk, and debris that is just waiting to create a blockage. Here is why you should work to avoid that.

1. No Plumbing Emergencies - Plumbing emergencies are stressful. Nobody likes coming home to find a flooded sink, a backed-up toilet, or any other major problem. Businesses particularly hate these issues, as they can disrupt normal operations, create health hazards, and create a generally unpleasant environment for customers. You want them solved, and fast. However, while there are plenty of companies out there who can fix plumbing emergencies, the best thing is to simply not have to deal with one at all. When you regularly clean your drains to remove blockages and buildup, the chances of a sudden and unexpected drain-related emergency drop tremendously.
2. Fewer Major Problems - Major problems like leaking or damaged drain lines don’t just happen overnight—they are the result of months or even years of constant wear and tear. More often than not, simply addressing this wear and tear with regular maintenance (such as drain cleaning) can help mitigate these problems and prevent serious issues from coming up over time. While no drain will last forever, and eventually a serious issue will impact nearly any plumbing fixture, maintenance will significantly prolong the life of your drains, allowing you to depend on them more and more.
3. Easier on Your Sewer Lines - Obstructions and blockages that damage your drain lines are equally as hard on your sewer system. The substances that form the blockage can be corrosive or contribute to blockages further down the line. As clogs break apart and are flushed away, they can only create further havoc down your drain line. By having your drains professionally cleaned, any waste and grime will be less likely to build up into a substantial blockage that can impact your sewer line, and thus the chances of them damaging your drain and plumbing network are much lower. Instead, this waste is carried away to where it can be properly processed.

How to Prevent Clogged Drains

How can you clean your drains this spring? It’s easier than you might think.

Be Careful What You Put Down the Drain

While drain cleaning can remove blockages and reduce the risk of an obstruction coming back, the problem will only return faster if you put certain things down your drain. While some things are unavoidable (soap scum, hair, etc.), being careful what you put down the drain will preserve drain cleanliness and flow for a much longer period of time. Try to avoid putting things like fibrous foods (corn husks, asparagus), starchy foods (flour, baking powder, potato skins), or shells (eggshells, shrimp shells, etc.) down the drain as they can contribute to the rapid formation of clogs. And try to avoid putting bacon grease down the drain too. As convenient as it might seem, coagulated fats and oils are arguably the biggest offenders when it comes to drain clogs.

The biggest threat to drains and pipes in the kitchen is "fog". F.O.G., or fat, oil, and grease, builds up in your pipes over time, causing tons of issues. F.O.G. solidifies, clogging your pipes and causing slow draining.

Being aware of what you are putting down your drains is the best way to prevent a clogged drain. Neither grease nor oil should go down the drain. Rather than throwing your F.O.G. away, use an empty coffee can or mason jar to trap and store it. If you want additional protection for your pipes, you can use a drain cover with a strainer, making sure you clean it every day.

The professionals at PF Plumbing can help you maintain your drains to prevent fats, oils, and grease from clogging them.

Here are some common items that clog drains.

• Fats, oils, and grease
• "Flushable Wipes"
• Cat litter
• Grounds of coffee
• Rice and pasta
• Egg shells
• Non-flushable paper products and paper towels

By regularly flushing your pipes with hot water, you can maintain your pipes and prevent a clog. Boiling water and letting it run down the drain allows materials that have built up in your pipes to be broken down.

Hire a Professional Drain Cleaning Contractor

A professional drain cleaner is the best way to remove any blockages or obstructions from your drain lines. Pros have access to tools that make quick work of virtually any obstruction and help clean the sides of your drain lines at the same time for truly spotless and effective cleaning. One such method is hydro jetting, or using a jet of water to blast grime and blockages out of your line entirely. Many companies offer discounted or special rates during the spring season to help with your annual cleaning as well!