Tips On How To Prevent Your Drains from Blocking Up

Blocked drains can be a nightmare - find out how to prevent them from blocking in the first place...

Unless you live in a tent and use a hole in the ground as your loo and the river for your running water, there’s a pretty high chance you’ll encounter a blocked drain at some stage of your life.

What that blocked drain looks like could be a number of scenarios, from a slow draining basin, gurgling sink, blocked toilet, overflowing sewer outside, water filling around your ankles in the shower or many other tell-tale signs.

Now that you’ve determined that indeed, you have a blocked drain, what do you do next?

Well, considering you’ve landed here on a blog for plumbing Perth, your best bet is to give us a call to get that shemozzle sorted ASAP.

Once you’ve booked us in, let’s look at ways you can prevent your drains from blocking in the future. Although not failsafe techniques, these tips can dramatically decrease your chances of having to call us out again soon.

Here's a list of our 5 ways to prevent your drains from blocking

1.    Beware of grease

Kitchens with lots of cooking oils, fats or grease heading down the sink can start to build up, solidify and cause grease plugs.

Consider alternative methods to dispose of grease/oil, and if you do happen to wash some down the sink, ensure it’s flushed properly by chasing it down with plenty of hot water to keep things moving along.

The best way to do this? Pop the plug in, fill your sink with hot hot water, then release the plug for one big gush of hot water to whisk that greasy residue away.

2.    Only flush toilet paper!

That means a big fat “no” to paper towels, sanitary products, baby wipes, makeup wipes... even tissues! You get the picture.

During the Big Toilet Paper Shortage Of 2020 (did that even happen? Was it a dream?) we had a lot of calls from customers who were experiencing blocked drains because they'd run out of loo paper and had to improvise with other options. Anything that's not toilet paper simply doesn't break down in water the same way toilet paper does, and so can build up, get caught in bends and create a myriad of problems.

Sing it with us: “I will only flush toilet paper!”

3.    Don’t flush Shrek

Shrek belongs in the swamp, not the sewer. Wait, what?

Indeed, the weirdest thing we’ve found blocking a drain is a little Shrek toy. Kids, especially curious toddler-folk, love to shove stuff down the toilet to see how it flushes.

So technically, we’re not limited to Shrek toys here but also kitchen utensils, phones, jewellery and so on.

Again, say it with us: “Thou shall only flusheth toilet paper”

4.    Install basket plug wastes in the kitchen

Why install basket plug and wastes in the kitchen? They catch little bits of food and other debris to prevent them entering the drain and causing a blockage. You’ll be surprised at how much they catch!

5.    Get a camera inspection

The only real way to know what’s going on down there is to get a camera inspection carried out by a plumber with the right equipment, to rule out cracked pipes, tree root invasions or other blockage-causing problems like rogue Shreks.

Getting a camera inspection to determine the health of your pipes is a really foolproof way to prevent future blockages and save you bigger financial heartache in the long run.

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Are Your Sinks and Drains Blocked? Maybe A Professional Plumber Can Help...

For a local Perth plumber with a whole lot of blocked drains knowledge AND a fancy shiny drain camera, give Lee at MC2 Plumbing a call today to help unblock those drains.

The face of MC2 Plumbing, Lee is your friendly, nice-guy-next-door type bloke. Once a professional tap dancer, Lee went from dancing on taps around the world to fixing taps in Perth (with over 20 years in the trade).

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