Day: December 31, 2020

In Part 1, we covered many of the things people flush by mistake. Take a look to make sure you’re not making the same common bathroom mistakes yourself. But, there’s a lot more to avoid than just putting the wrong things down your toilet drain. Next up, we have some things people do that can damage their pipes.

Using Chemical Drain Cleaners

Chemical drain cleaners are unfortunately common as a quick fix against slow drains. The problem is, they’re shown to have long-term affects on your drain pipes. The chemicals are strong enough that they eat away at the insides of the pipes.

Fixing a slow drain is as simple as removing whatever is blocking it. While that might be hard for a layman to do, it’s something plumbing professionals, like us at POM Plumbing, can do very easily. If it’s not an easy fix, it’s certainly not something that Drano can solve for you.

By using a snake, a drum auger (which is like an industrial snake), and possibly the help of a camera, we can pull out whatever is blocking your drain without damaging your pipes. This is not only better for your plumbing, but a more effective long-term solution as well. 

Plunging Drains

Plungers are great for toilets. Toilets sometimes need a little help when we flush too much toilet paper or waste and it can’t get to the larger part of the pipes with water alone. In this case, using a plunger is helpful and harmless. It simply pushes the clog to the part of the pipes that can handle it and then breaks apart into the smaller parts it’s made of, which is usually all stuff that degrades quickly.

However, using plungers for a sink or tub drain can spell trouble. Why? Well, drains are usually only made to handle water. The pipes are typically a consistently small diameter until they reach a larger part of the sewage system, which is either in your basement or out under the street.

When these drains are clogged, it’s typically because of a buildup. This buildup can either be in one spot or, more commonly, lines the interior of the pipe until it became so narrow that it couldn’t keep up with the flow of water.

In the first case, using a plunger may be able to push the clog further down, but it is not likely to get it all the way out to the larger sewer system – especially if it’s got any gaps for pressure release. Therefore, you’re likely wasting your time and potentially doing harm to pipes from repeatedly pressurizing them.

In the second case, a plunger will do nothing to solve your problem. It will simply pressurize the small amount of space down the middle of the pipe. Repeatedly raising the pressure inside your pipes can lead to cracks or bursts, which can turn into flooding, water damage, and more.

Ignoring Problems

Past creating problems, the worst of common bathroom mistakes that someone can make is actually ignoring the problems. The longer you allow a problem to persist, the worse it will get and the more money, time, and energy you are likely to waste. Instead, call POM Plumbing and let our professionals come help you out. The faster we can come and take care of the problem, the faster you can get back to a higher quality of life.

If you want to keep your bathroom fully functional and at peak performance, you’ll want to know these common bathroom mistakes to avoid. We at POM Group have been in the plumbing business for many years. That’s given us a lot of time to see people making the same mistakes over and over again. We want to help our clients avoid those mistakes in their own homes so that they can keep things running smoothly. Here’s what we’ve learned.

Causing Problems

The first thing we should talk about is how people tend to cause problems in their bathrooms. It’s easy to make a mistake that causes lasting issues. We’re going to cover the really common ones. 

Flushing the Wrong Things

In this article, we’ll take a look at all of the things people flush that should actually be put into the trash. More than anything else, one of the leading causes of bathroom mayhem is people’s tendency to flush the wrong things. This happens a lot because of public misinformation or passing along habits from parent to child without realizing they’re problems.

Here are some things you should never flush:

Paper products that aren’t toilet paper

Paper towels, tissues, regular paper, and any other paper product that isn’t toilet paper is not created to degrade the same way as toilet paper. The way these products break down is not sufficient enough to keep them from wreaking havoc on your plumbing system. These products can cause drain clogs, backups, and damage to the larger sewage system – yes, even if you don’t have a septic tank.

Hygiene products

Tampons, pads, liners, makeup wipes, diapers, and baby wipes should never be flushed. Like the paper products mentioned above, they are not meant to degrade fast enough to avoid causing plumbing issues. Plus, someone at a sewage plant has to remove all of that from the sewage.

The two most common of these that get flushed are tampons and baby wipes (or other wet wipes). Tampons are commonly considered flushable by the public, but this misinformation only began because of their size and seeming ability to flush without problem. However, they can cause clogs and they do build up in the sewage system. If the local sewage system has to deal with tens of these a day from all of the locals, they can easily band together to create disaster.

Supposedly “flushable” wipes are not actually flushable. Like tampons, these are only called flushable because they aren’t likely to cause immediate problems upon flushing. That does not mean they aren’t causing issues further down the line. Throw these wipes into a trashcan instead. To avoid putting noticeable amounts of waste into your bathroom trashcan, wipe with toilet paper first and then use wet wipes for further cleanup.

Contaminants

While these items won’t necessarily cause your individual bathroom any problems, they will cause problems in the local water supply. Avoid flushing paint, lubricating oil, and medication. All three of these have to be disposed of in unique ways, none of which involve a toilet. Because these things are made with ingredients that are dangerous to humans, their ability to get into the water supply is also dangerous. Do you really want the local water to absorb prescription drugs? Neither do we.

Absorbent & Expanding

If you want to spell some serious trouble for your own bathroom, rather than the sewage system, just try flushing kitty litter, rice, or other absorbent solids. Kitty litter, rice, and many other things are made to expand when in contact with water. That means, as soon as it goes down your toilet drain, it begins absorbing water. That’s a great way to get one nasty blockage.

More Common Bathroom Mistakes

Ready for the other mistakes you should avoid? Check out Part 2 for more than just flushing the wrong things. If you’ve found your problem, call us and let us know you need some assistance.