Getting a drain unclogged can be an arduous, difficult, and even disgusting process, depending on what it is that is clogging up the drain. Sometimes we don’t even realize that the things we’re putting in our drain can clog it up, though. Here are some of the most common items that will clog up your drain.
- Hair. It’s the first one everyone thinks of when they notice a drain is clogged. In bathroom sinks and showers, hair is the #1 cause of a clogged drain. You can avoid this by putting strainers or drain filters that help to catch the hair before it goes down into the pipe and stops things up.
- Pasta noodles. While hair is the bane of bathroom drains, pasta is a kitchen sink’s #1 enemy. Don’t put these down your garbage disposal, or it will get clogged. When pasta is sent through pipes, it expands and blocks anything else from coming through.
- Soap. Soap doesn’t usually clog a drain all by itself, but it can function as a sticky adhesive that binds together other hair and debris that makes its way down the drain. Eventually, you have a huge hairball held together by soap, even when none of those individual hairs would have been enough to clog the drain on their own.
- Cooking grease. As tempting as it is to just pour this down the drain, it will cause far more problems than it’s worth. To dispose of it properly, drain it into an old coffee can or milk container. When the container is full, throw it away in the trash. This will save your sink a lot of wear and tear.
- Toys. If you have young children, they may be fascinated by the holes in your kitchen and bathroom that go to nowhere. It’s too easy for them to experiment by dropping things into them. Make sure and reinforce with your children that nothing should go down the sink drain except for water, to keep them from stopping them up.
- Bath salts. Be careful with what kind you buy. You’d think things made for the tub would go down the drain safely, but some are so coarse that they are nearly the size of pebbles and don’t dissolve well. At least this gives you an excuse to buy really nice bath salts – they’re better for both your relaxation and your plumbing!
If you’ve been putting any of these items down your drain, chances are it gets clogged a lot more often than it needs to. Dispose of these items properly, and you’ll be able to spend fewer hours slogging through sink and shower debris to clear it out.