If water isn’t flowing as quickly as it should down a drain in your home (or multiple drains), you may soon start to notice a bad smell, not to mention begin to see debris and gunk building up in your sink or bathtub. If the problem is left untreated, it can easily – and wholly inconveniently – lead to a full blockage that requires help from a local drainage company.
To help stop your drains from blocking and raising a stink, here are 5 simple steps to follow:
- Use a drain guard
Using one of these cheap drain guards over all of your plug holes is a fantastically effective way to minimise the amount of gunk and general waste that gets washed down a sink on an average day.
A simple plastic or metal filter that sits over a plug hole and which can easily be removed and cleaned out, drain guards are just as effective in showers as well.
- Use a drain cleaning product
To help maintain the health of the drains in your home, try pouring a bacteriological cleaning product specifically designed for drains, down each drain every few months or so, or as and when needed.
Pour, and wait for a minimum of half an hour (or whatever the specific product instructions advise) before flushing it down with some hot water.
- Pour boiling water down them periodically
One simple and highly effective tip for ensuring the free flowing quality of your drains, is to pour boiling water down them every few days, or at least once a week. Helping to protect the surface of your pipes from oil that may cling to them and cause a clog, the hot water works as a lubricant and can be used as often as needed.
- Clean out the garbage disposal
If you have a garbage disposal system, be sure to clean it thoroughly at least once a month with a strong bristled brush, or by grinding up some ice cubes mixed with table salt. The latter helps to remove any residual grease and grime from the disposal systems sides, and a quick flush with cold water afterwards usually does the trick.
- Be on the look-out for potential problems
Some drain problems aren’t always easy to spot until it’s too late, and the drain is already blocked. But, by regularly checking over your drains, sinks, showers and bathtubs, you should be able to spot whether anything is amiss before it turns into a bigger issue with fully blocked drains. Maybe there’s a nasty smell emanating from a drain, or a wet spot building up where there shouldn’t be one?
Ultimately, when it comes to a healthy drain system, prevention is better than cure. By following some, or all of the 5 tips listed above, you can keep your drains smelling sweeter and functioning better, for longer.
If you do have a drain problem that home remedies can’t fix however, simply call out a local company who can clear the problem for you and get things flowing again, fast.