Consider these blocked drain causes before calling the experts!
Dealing with a clogged drain is every homeowner’s nightmare. But fear not! Wipe And Organize has got you covered with valuable insights on the pesky culprits behind the most common blocked drain causes.
Whether you’re facing a slow-draining sink or a bathtub that won’t cooperate, getting to the root of the issue is your first step toward a hassle-free solution.
Today, we’ve decided to get into the intricacies of these blocked drain causes, shedding light on everything from everyday habits to surprises that can wreak havoc on your plumbing.
Picture this: a quiet evening interrupted by the unwelcome sight of water pooling around you in the shower. From kitchen grease to hairballs, we’ll cover the plumbing pitfalls and equip you with simple, practical solutions to restore the flow in no time.
So on that note, let’s dive into the world of plumbing mysteries and discover the secrets to maintaining a smooth-running household, free from the pesky grip of blocked drain causes.
Blocked drain cause: Coffee
Instant coffee dissolves in your morning cup. But ground coffee doesn’t. And the truth is that it’s a real nuisance to try and dig out of a coffee pot and into the trash. So, most folks often rinse it and go on with their day.
But over time, coffee grounds can build up in your drains, especially corners of piping, and add to the other things that partially block a drain. If you use ground coffee instead of instant, make sure you get all your grounds into the bin using a spoon or kitchen spatula to help.
Blocked drain cause: Food scraps
It’s not that we’re saying you’ve been shoving your food waste down the sink; that would be silly…though we HAVE seen it happen! But it really doesn’t take much to clog a drain, and the odd piece of rice here and there can do more damage than you might think.
The thing about a lot of the foods we eat is that they’re pretty porous, especially carbs like rice and pasta. They’ll soak up a lot of water and quickly expand to clog a drainage pipe. The odd piece of small pasta here and there probably won’t do much damage.
But it pays to be a bit more careful when scraping the food waste from plates, pots, and pans.
Blocked drain cause: Cotton buds
Think about it: Why would a plastic stick with cotton wool on either end go down the drain? Sadly, though, it always happens. In addition to this, cotton wool is frequently dropped into toilets or down chutes. Both might vanish from view immediately.
But like everything else on our list of blocked drain causes, they’ll soon become attached to other things creeping in your drain. These little bits can join forces to create a mighty backup.
And because cotton buds are plastic sticks, they can do even more harm as they get stuck in nooks, crannies, or the corners of pipework and can’t be easily dislodged. It may be possible to flush out lumps of cotton wool on their own, but buds are much more stubborn to deal with!
Blocked drain cause: Baby wipes
Baby wipes can quickly clog your drain. They’re known to be disposable, and they can be great for wiping up things you’d rather flush down the toilet. But they’re a total nightmare for drains.
They stick together quickly, so even if you only flush one at a time, they’ll eventually end up sticking to each other and anything else that may already be lingering in the drain. We recommend investing in a lidded bin to dispose of them if you want to do your drains a favor!
Blocked drain cause: Soap
You may believe that old-fashioned bars of soap would be the bigger offender here, and the last morsel of a bar of soap can do its fair share of damage. But in reality, it’s the liquid soap that causes an issue more often than not.
With a bar of soap, you only use that small amount of soap you need, but we often end up using more when it comes to liquid soap. It’s also usually the case that you pump some liquid soap into your hand, instantly sliding off and down the plug hole, so you get more than needed.
The actual soap on its own won’t do too much damage. But mixed with all the other nasty things lurking in our drains, it can act as a glue to hold everything together. And FYI: Discarded lumps of toothpaste can cause an identical situation.
Blocked drain cause: Fat
You might have seen stories in the news about “fatbergs.” These giant chunks of fat can clog entire sewers and cost water companies thousands of dollars each year to break up. When you throw fat down the drain, quite often, it doesn’t make it to the sewer.
Instead, it sticks to the edges of your drains in your home and slowly builds up until it’s obstructing the path of everything else.
Things like roasting tins and greasy frying pans should always be scraped out as much as possible before being put into the dishwasher or sink. This will help prevent your drains from getting jammed by all that fat.
Blocked drain cause: Bath salts
You may think this sounds ridiculous. After all, the whole point of all those incredible-smelling bath salts is that they dissolve in your bath water, right? Well, technically, yes. But many of them don’t actually dissolve entirely.
In a big bathtub full of water, you may never notice that there are still a few clumps lingering around, and they often get pulled down the plug hole as you release the water. But they don’t get fully flushed out.
Rather, they can get caught on other debris already lingering in your drain, slowly but surely clogging it all up. We get that a bubble bath solution might seem less luxurious and fancy. But it’s already a liquid, so less likely to cause a blocked drain.
Blocked drain cause: Hair
This one’s obvious because the clogging can frequently happen at the plug hole of your bathtub or shower. We never really notice how much hair comes off our bodies and goes down the drain in the shower or tub, but it tends to add up fairly quickly.
That is combined with all the soap and other products that go down the drain, and you soon have have yourself a gooey, hairy lump. Occasionally, you can remove this by pulling it back up through the plug hole.
The trouble is that it can also travel further down the drain to a point you can’t reach without help. If someone in your household has long hair, they should brush it out before getting in the shower to eliminate any loose hairs before they can get in your drains.
You should also purchase a hair catcher for your plug-hole. It could save you a fortune in the long run.
We hope you found this post on blocked drain causes helpful. Be sure to let our readers know if you have your own experiences with this matter in the comments section.
Meanwhile, Wipe And Organize is here for ALL your home needs. We think you’ll also enjoy reading about 25 Kitchen Organizing Mistakes That Are Costing You Money
