Keep Your Plumbing in Good Shape With These Reminders

If you’re reading this in the spring of 2020, you’re probably staying home, right? More than you’ve ever done. And that means you may get around to handling a lot of household cleaning chores you didn’t have time for until now. But there are some important cautionary steps to take to make sure you’ve got plumbing that’s in good shape and you don’t run into any major emergencies.

You can trust A-Avis for plumbing in Chino, CA and throughout the Greater Riverside Area whenever you need assistance. Of course, we’d love for you to avoid those problems in the first place, and we’re certain you do as well. So here are some tips to remember about your plumbing to help avoid emergencies.

Know What Can and Cannot Be Flushed Down Toilets

What can be flushed down toilets is simple: human waste and toilet paper. That’s it. Please keep this in mind, since putting other items down the toilet not only endangers your plumbing, it can enter the municipal sewer system and cause plumbing trouble for other people as well.

Baby wipes and various hand-sanitizing wipes are an absolute no. Some of these products are marketed as “bio-degradable” or “flushable.” It’s not true. These are the top reason for clogs in toilets and the sewer system in general today, because they stick to each other and to pipe walls. The clumping leads to an emulsified mass that stops up sewer systems and is incredibly difficult to remove.

Tissue paper and paper towels also do not belong flushed down the toilet. This may seem odd at first—isn’t just paper, like toilet paper? But the problem with nasal tissue and paper towels is absorbency. Both absorb water, which toilet paper does not. Toilet paper is designed to rapidly break up in water. Tissue and paper towels will absorb and expand, and that’s bad news for sewer lines and drainpipes.

Dinner napkins? Those aren’t good either. They don’t have the absorbency of tissue paper and paper towels, they don’t emulsify like baby wipes, but they are still too heavy compared to toilet paper and will not break up naturally in water.

And then—everything else. Plastic bags, cloth, small objects, cigarettes … just don’t put this down the toilet, and you should have few problems from the drains.

Watch the shower and sink drains

You may be trying to cut your own hair at some point, or do a major beard trimming. You’ll want to do this over the sink or in the shower, which is natural. However, you do not want any hair to go down the drain of the sink or shower. Please lay down plastic bags to form a full layer to catch the hair, without an opportunity to get onto the sink or shower material itself and get washed down into the drain. This makes cleaning up easy and helps with cleaner drain.

Stay vigilant about the kitchen sink and the garbage disposal. Don’t pour grease, fog, or oils down them. Don’t overstuff the disposal. Never put actual trash into the disposal. Don’t throw in food waste that your teeth can’t chew (like meat bones). Don’t let pasta and rice wash down the drains, since they’re also absorbent.

Look to A-Avis Home Services Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. for any plumbing work you need.

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