What’s Causing Your Slow Draining Sinks
Slow draining sinks come second only to dripping faucets in how much homeowners have to deal with this common issue. Sinks and drains can back up at any moment, without any warning, and in any part of the house.
Even if you’re careful, debris can cause your sink to back up, causing you to not only have a sink that doesn’t work but potentially prohibiting your use of the kitchen or bathroom altogether until it gets fixed. This is a frustrating problem but thankfully, this common problem can be dealt with. This cheat sheet is going to show you how to get rid of these annoyances and how to prevent them altogether.
The Top Reasons You Sinks Are Clogged
There are many causes for why your kitchen or bathroom sink, in addition to shower drains, might be draining slowly. First, a common culprit in bathroom and shower drains is hair buildup. When showering or brushing out hair at the sink, the hair that gets washed down often sticks to the side of drain pipes, catching on soap scum.The more hair that goes down, the bigger the clog will become. Eventually, water backs up and only drains out slowly. A common issue for sink drains is too many food particles being washed down.
Even if you have a garbage disposal, over time, pieces of food can get caught and create a clog. Other substances that cause blockages are grease and oil. These two should never be poured down a kitchen sink drain because they will almost always cause a clog.
How Can You Fix Slow Drainage?
Thankfully, fixing a slow drain isn’t as hard as it might sound. When your bathroom sink or shower drains are slowed down due to hair, it might get messy but the solution is to remove the clog. This means taking a snake or similar instrument and fishing inside the pipe until you catch the hair or are able to push it down through your pipe altogether.
When it comes to your kitchen sink, you might need to have a professional come and clean out your pipes before you can have your kitchen in working order. Using a liquid plumbing solution is never a good idea because of its caustic activity. You can actually damage pipes instead and cause more damage than you had initially when liquid plumbing solution is used incorrectly.
Prevention is Essential
Prevention is always better than trying to fix a problem. Here are the best plumbing tips on fixing drains and the ways to use them in order to prevent your drains from getting clogged in the first place. For bathrooms and showers, place a screen over the opening in your sink drain.This screen will allow water to flow through but will catch hair, keeping it from entering your drain and building up. In the kitchen, it’s essential that you only put proper types of food through your garbage disposal.
If needed, reacquaint yourself with the manual to ensure you aren’t taxing the machine. Never pour hot grease or oil down your drain. As it travels through your pipe, it rapidly cools and causes clogs to form.
By following these simple steps along with upkeeping the right plumbing maintenance frequency, you’ll prevent clogs from occurring and will save yourself the frustration of drains that let water out too slowly.
Family-Owned, Experienced Plumbers
Captain Rooter Emergency Plumbers Chicago have served the Chicago, IL area since 1998. Family owned and operated, they focus on providing quality repairs, five-star customer service, and guaranteed emergency plumbing repair. They offer low-cost solutions, fast service, and the best quality around.
