Common causes of drain clogging include food waste build-up, accumulation of grease, and chemical concentrations. When things get worse, drain the assistance of local drain cleaning services is required. On the other hand, minor clogs can be eliminated using some at-home tools and methods.
However, drain cleaning is not as simple as it sounds. There are a number of precautions that you will have to take. On top of that, there are a number of techniques that you should know.
The Do’s and Don’ts of drain cleaning
Due to a clogged drain, your sink will begin to fill up. This is because the water will have no place to escape from due to a blockage from chunks of food, grease, and grime. In general, you will not even realize that your drain is getting clogged up until it begins showing.
Indeed, clogged drains can cause a lot of inconveniences and cleaning them can be a hassle. Often at times, you may want to take cleaning matters in your own hands
In this regard, there are a number of do’s and don’ts when it comes to drain cleaning. In this article, we aim to touch these precautions briefly in order to make it easy for you to remove drain clogs.
These include:
Do not use a drain cleaner from the store
The drain cleaners that are sold in stores can certainly help you in clearing the drain. However, in that process, these chemicals can damage the drain pipes. Hence, regular use of a store-bought drain cleaner should be minimized. As a result of the continuous pipe damage, you may have to make costly repairs after a few months.
Do use sewer jetting to clear off the sewer lines
Often at times, a drain blockage is not a result of clogging in the pipes. Rather, it is a result of clogging in the sewer lines. In case you have tried everything and yet your sink still fills up, chances are that the sewer lines are clogged further back.
You may have to use jet cleaning to clear off the sewer lines. This process is also referred to as sewer jetting, in which experts make use of high-pressure water to clear off waste, and debris in the sewer lines.
Even though you can rent sewer jets, we do not recommend you to carry this process out on your own. Better yet, leave this task to the sewer experts and plumbers. This is because such pieces of equipment have some general usage guidelines that a layman is unaware of.
Do not try snaking your drain
A drain snake is yet another technique used to clear the drain pipes. In this technique, a flexible yet rigid cable is used to pull out chunks of hair, food, and debris that is clogging the drain up.
This is one of the few techniques that are safe to use. However, experts still recommend homeowners to not to try it especially in case the clogging is further back in the drain. This is because if this process is not done right, the drain pipes can become damaged. Ultimately, this can lead to costly repairs.
Do take the help of experts
Remember that your best way out of things that you have no knowledge of is to get help from a professional. If you look around, you will find plenty of drain cleaning companies. Experts at these companies can get the job done in a safe and effective manner, using techniques that laymen have no training.
Ending note
Drain cleaning is not a very complex process. The only risk involved in drain cleaning is that of damaging the drain pipes. Often at times, laymen end up damaging the pipes, which results in costly repairs later on. In case you are confident about it, feel free try cleaning the drains yourself. Otherwise, consider reaching out to an expert.
