What's Clogging My Drain? Watch Out for These Top Five Items

At some point in our lives, we all have to deal with the hassle and frustration of a clogged drain. Whether it’s our kitchen sink or the drain in our shower, there are countless reasons why a drain might not work as it should.

Here are some of the top reasons why you might be experiencing a clogged drain in your home or your place of business.

Peels and Rinds

It’s easy to finish a tasty fruit, and then toss the remnants of your meal into the sink. This is especially common among fruits and vegetables, that are hard to peel, like oranges and potatoes. At the end of the day, it’s simply easier to rinse the rinds off your plate, and forget about it. After all, these foods are biodegradable, so why should we worry about it?

Unfortunately, these peels and rinds take ages to break down, compared to the tender fruit inside. This means that a particularly bulky piece of orange rind might take weeks to clear from your drain if it gets stuck.

This can lead to further build-ups, resulting in an inevitable call to the best drain cleaning Las Vegas has to offer. Avoid this build-up, by tossing peels, rinds, and any other foods into the trash, or better yet, into your compost pile.

Greases and Oils

While a two to five foot hand auger might be able to scoop out a stray orange peel, greases and oils are impossible to clear from your drains, without the right tools.

This is because these clingy, sticky substances coat the inside of your pipes, creating a sludge, that traps any number of objects, that go down your drain. As such, this is an exceedingly common kitchen issue, particularly in the restaurant business.

It seems easy to dump hot grease down the drain, but this is the last thing you should do. Instead, wait for the grease to congeal into a solid and scoop it into the trash. After all, you should never put hot foods or liquids into the trash.

Hygiene Products

Disposing of hygiene products seems easy enough, but countless people drop these items, or don’t think before flushing them down the drain. In fact, these items are among the most common objects plumbers find in blocked pipes.

Cotton swabs, cotton balls, and cleansing wipes are small enough to toss into your toilet or drop into your sink without a second thought. But just like you should never flush tampons or pads down the toilet, you should avoid sending these items to the sewer. This is because fibrous materials won’t break down like foods and fecal matter.

Instead of going through quick biodegradation in your pipes, these items are far more likely to get stuck and collect more harmful materials that clog your drain. Unless it comes from your body, avoid tossing any object into the toilet.

Stringy Stuff

Stringy stuff is among the most common items that cause blocked drains. Anything from hair, to dental floss, to stringy foods can wrap around blades, get caught in pipes, or tie around other objects already blocking your plumbing.

The occasional stray hair won’t harm your plumbing, but frequent follicles falling down your drain can lead to nasty consequences. Always use a hair trap or screen in the shower and be sure to clean your sink after your floss or brush nearby to remove any stray stringy materials.

Toys

Any parent with small children knows about the fascination toddlers have with the toilet. After all, one minute an object is floating in the water. The next? It’s gone with a simple flush. Not only is this fun for the child, but it’s also experimental.

Unfortunately, toys are often not biodegradable. Plastic toys can get trapped in the bends of pipes and plush toys expand in the water, forming an unbreakable barrier. Use a child lock on your toilet lid, or use a child gate to prevent them from getting into the bathroom at an early age.