What do you put down your drain? Don’t let your pipes get out of hand, like this guy holding a 15-ft dreadlock pulled out of someone’s pipes! It may be time for a good old-fashioned drain cleaning.
Did you know that you could be making yourself sick from the bacteria growing in and around your drain and ruining your pipes too?
- You’d probably answer toilet bowl if you were asked what bathroom surface is swarming with the most harmful bacteria.
- But there’s another worthy contender for the disgusting title, and one that often gets forgotten about – your sink plughole.
- Researchers found that putting hair, soap and dead skin down the sink doesn’t just cause blockages, but can potentially pose a deadly threat.
- Dangerous ‘biofilms’ are easily created in the U-bend. These are considered to be the perfect environment for hundreds of lethal bacteria to thrive.
- Washing chicken could immediately spell danger, if Salmonella escapes down the sink drain. This bug can be fatal for those with compromised immune systems.
- The same issue exists with E. coli from ground beef, or contaminated produce. It can be life-threatening, but usually results in diarrhea.
- While regularly washing down hair and dead skin allows for a build-up of Fusarium solani, which can lead to permanent vision damage.
- Researchers found putting hair, soap and water down the sink doesn’t just cause blockages, but can potentially pose a deadly threat
If you are not furiously scrubbing your sinks at this point, there is more. Not only is the bacteria bad for your health, but what you are putting down the drain can be ruining your pipes as well. Read this before you pour Drano down the sink to fix a clogged drain.
- You can buy chemicals to clear clogged drains, but these products sometimes do more harm than good,” reported the website. “They can actually erode cast-iron drainpipes and because they typically don’t remove the entire clog, the problem is likely to recur, causing you to use the chemicals repeatedly.
- “The caustic action of chemicals may eventually wear away the insides of pipes, causing leaks.”
- Keep food scraps out of kitchen drains.
- Scrape food into the trash before doing dishes-even if you have a disposal-and never put liquid grease down the drain; pour it into a sealable container to put in the garbage after it cools.
- Keep hair out of bathroom drains. Install screens over drains in showers and tubs, and pull out what hair you can every few weeks to prevent buildups.
Instead of using chemicals to clean out a drain, try using an inexpensive plastic plumbing snake to clean down into the pipes. Plumbing snakes are usually less than $5. Here is how they work:
If the plumbing snake does not clean out your drain completely, there may be a clog further down in the pipes. If you need your drain cleaned, local plumbing experts at Master Repair Plumbing is the answer to your backed up problem. Call 817-338-0000 for a free estimate.