If you live in Queensland and you have a clogged toilet, damaged pipes, or the need for a new water heater, you probably already have Brisbane’s most reliable plumbing service on speed dial ready to assist you. That’s all well and good, but it’s really a better idea to try and take better care of your home plumbing so that emergency calls to the plumber can be minimised.
Below are some helpful tips that will hopefully assist you in keeping the water flowing properly, at the correct temperatures, and without any nasty backups and blockages.
1. Install Drain Covers
One of the top reasons plumbers have to be called out is to help people with overflowing drains resulting from blocked water pipes. From your kitchen sink to your bathroom drains, there are a number of key everyday things that get flushed down these drains that cause blockages. For your kitchen, it’s food waste, and in the bathroom it’s hair. You might not sense at the time that your drain is receiving more than it can handle, but it’s happening right before your eyes.
Drain covers are simple devices that let water through quickly but catch large items such as hair and food waste. The simple act of installing one of these will greatly reduce the amount of various debris that makes it into your drain, and thus reduce the chances of blockages occurring.
2. Keep Grease and Oil Out of the Kitchen Sink
In your kitchen, the other main enemy of the plumbing is grease and cooking oil. Many people pour this down the sink when it’s hot and liquid, thinking it will just drain away. The more common result, however, is that the oil will solidify somewhere in the pipes, creating a buildup that not even your plunger will be capable of reaching.
3. Switch to a Liquid Soap
Another important tip for your bathroom plumbing is to make the switch from a bar or other solid soap to a liquid one. While both of them may do a great job of cleaning you, the bar soap creates a lot more soap scum in the drains that creates problems further down the road, including clogs in the drain. What’s worse, soap scum will initially bypass your drain filter and find its way down into the drains anyway. Liquid soaps and body washes don’t have this problem.
4. Steer Clear of Harsh Drain Cleaners
Some people’s first response to any clogging in the sink is to pour drain cleaner down there to try and dislodge it. While it may work, you don’t want these harsh cleaning agents sitting in your pipes for any longer than they have to, and they will while they’re sitting in front of a blockage trying to slowly dislodge and dissolve it. It’s far better to attack a blockage with a plunger first to dislodge. You can use drain cleaners to clean the pipes when the main blockages are clear.
5. Clean the Sink and Run Hot Water Down There
One more helpful tip in the kitchen sink in particular is to get into the good habit of running hot water down your sink after you’re done with the dishes. Run the hot water as you clean your sink after each session doing the dishes, and your drains will thank you for it. About 20 seconds of hot water running down the drain will help to prevent oil buildup.
6. Only Flush What Should be Flushed
Finally, remember that only your waste and toilet paper are to be flushed down the toilet. Nothing else is ever designed to be flushed, including paper towels, tissues, feminine hygiene products, condoms, and anything else you want to throw down there.
