The holiday season is a bustling time for many households. For you this may be extra time in the kitchen to prepare a family feast or freshening up the guest room for weekend visitors. For your drain, however, this could mean more showers, more flushing and a kitchen sink full of unwanted leftovers and peels creeping their way down the garbage disposal.
Here are a few holiday season drain tips to keep in mind, so you can spend more time with loved ones and no time dealing with drain clogs and plumbing issues.
Watch your kitchen drain
Nothing kills the spirit like a slow or smelly kitchen drain. Or worse, a clog! Who’s got time for that? Not you! To avoid any mishaps in the kitchen, remember that first of – if your kitchen sink is not equipped with a garbage disposal, do not treat it, as if it is! Drain leftover food particles down a kitchen sink with no garbage disposal will guarantee buildup and a clog forming. We promise, this will be much more of a hassle to remove, than to simply place your ‘garbage’ in the garbage.
Here’s a few things that should never go down your disposal:
- Grease and oil
- Stringy foods such as banana peels, celery, pumpkin etc.
- Bones
- Coffee Grounds
- Egg Shells
- Fruit pits
- Pasta
- Onion skins or Potato peels
- Oatmeal
- Nuts
Always turn your water and disposal on before adding anything down the drain and run cold water for at least 15 seconds after using the disposal. Cold water will keep certain materials in solid state, ensuring that they get grounded up and completely flushed down the main line.
Consider adding drain traps
If you have guests staying over, it’s understandable your shower will also have more visitors. Slow draining showers are unpleasant and so is the ball of hair and what have you not, you’ll end up with, in your drain if precautions are not taken.
A shower or bathtub drain trap is an excellent little tool that can prevent hair buildup in your bathroom drains. Clean them out once a week, from any debris or just place them there temporarily if having one on a regular basis is not really your thing. This is an inexpensive method that will go a long way in keeping your bathtub and shower drains clean and free of pesky, hair buildup.
Clean Your Drains Before Guests Arrive
A professional drain cleaning is a great option to thoroughly clean all your drains and eliminate any existing buildup, before guests arrive and your drains begin working overtime. For this purpose, we highly recommend scheduling a hydro jetting service, an easy, non-invasive, and very efficient method of cleaning out your drain pipes or sewer line. It effectively loosens sand, grease, scale and residue from the inside of your pipes and flushes them out completely.
This will also be beneficial to your drains as the demanding, winter months are upon us. Fall often sends dried up leaves, salt and sand down your drain system, increasing the chances for a clog which makes your pipes prone to bursting during the winter months. Hydro jetting helps clear the way so your water can flow freely, preventing it from freezing.
Check your water heater
Speaking of winter, your water heater also has to work extra hard during the winter months, to keep the water warm for you and your guests. To make sure it is working optimally, keep the dial temperature at no higher than 120°F and perform a routine flush to remove the sediment that gathers over time.
Following these tips will keep your drains running effectively during the holiday season, but for plumbing emergencies that don’t take a holiday, your friends at VIP Sewer and Drain Services are available 24/7!