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There are many things that can block your drain and some blockages are more difficult to remove than others. You need to hire a drain cleaning service provider to remove the blockages safely and correctly without causing any damage to your drainage system. It is always a good idea to have your drains cleaned at least once a year to avoid blockages but sometimes blockages will still occur because foreign objects can make their way into drains. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in Mansfield, TX provides excellent drain cleaning services and they have some helpful tips on how to keep your drain blockage free after they have been cleaned. There is a list of common things that will block your drain and how you can avoid it in the future.
Oil and fat.
We tend to use oil when we cook and we don’t always make a conscious effort to dispose of the oil correctly after we have finished cooking. It is much easier to just pour it down the drain and forget about it. The oil can stick to the pipes and after a while, a build-up of oil can occur which hinders water flow and can block small objects from passing through. One way to stop this from happening is to pour the oil into a container that you can seal and dispose of correctly. This will ensure that your pipes stay clean for longer after the drain cleaning service. Fat becomes a liquid when it heats but then returns to a solid form when it cools down. The liquid fat can travel various distances depending on the weather which can cause your drainage pipes to be lined with fat. You can scrap the solid fat off the pots and pans before putting them in the sink. This will drastically decrease the amount of fat that ends up in your drainage system. If you start to notice that the water isn’t draining as effectively as possible then you can attempt to use store-bought drain cleaning chemicals to dissolve the fat. Those chemicals are hazardous to your health and pipes. It might also not dissolve all the fat and oil so you will have to use it frequently. It is better to get a drain cleaning service provider because they will use the correct chemicals and methods to ensure that your pipes stay healthy and that there aren’t any health hazards.
Food scraps.
You have just spent an hour or two cooking, you have eaten your dinner and now you want to relax but the dishes are sitting in the sink waiting to be washed. It is not uncommon to forget to scrape all the food before putting the dishes into the sink. All of us are a little guilty of being a bit lazy when it comes to scraping off the food from the dishes before washing them. Even if you do scrape off the plates and bowels there might be rogue foods that can make their way down your drain and eventually it will cause a blockage. A great way to minimize the number of food scraps that end up in your drain is to buy a filter. This filter has big enough holes for the water to travel through but they are small enough to stop food from going to your drain. You can also remove the filter to clean it after you have done the dishes. You can save a lot of money by buying one of these filters because your drains won’t get blocked as frequently so you don’t have to pay for a drain cleaning service every few months.
Children’s toys.
Children are curious by nature and sometimes they wonder what would happen if they flushed down a toy. Children are also sneaky and sometimes we don’t realize that they have thrown their toys down the drain until a blockage has occurred. Many toys end up in drains unintentionally as smaller parts of the toy can break off during bathtime and will flow into the drainage system. Small toys can generally pass through the pipes without problems but can get stuck in soap residue and cause a blockage as more soap builds-up around it. A larger toy can cause a serious blockage if it turns and blocks water from passing through. If these toys get stuck then you cannot use chemicals to remove them because the chemicals won’t dissolve the toy properly. Using a plunger can be a futile struggle especially if the toy is lodged firmly in the pipe. It is better to hire a drain cleaning service to deal with the blockage because it will save you a lot of wasted effort. Prevention is better than cure so here are some ways that you can prevent a toy from making its way into the drainage system. You can buy filters and place them in the drain so it stops the small parts of toys from entering the drain, You can also explain to your children that toys should not be flushed down or put in the drain. You can also make use of regular drain cleaning services to en