Avoid an Emergency Plumber Visit
Your plumbing system is an intricate maze of pipes, fittings, faucets, and fasteners – it’s the hardest working system in your entire home. From supplying your morning hot shower to washing your dishes and cleaning your clothes; there’s not much this system can’t do. Since your plumbing takes such good care of you, it’s time to return the favor. When it comes to your plumbing, an ounce of prevention is way better than a pound of cure. Too often we see Sacramento homeowners let their plumbing go for too long without proper maintenance and call us only when they need an emergency visit. We’re sharing the steps you can take to avoid an emergency plumber visit and why your home should have annual plumbing maintenance inspections.
Plumbing Maintenance Begins with the Sink
One of the best ways to avoid an emergency plumber visit is to take care of your drains. By properly maintaining your drains, and watching what you put down there, you can take care of your pipes and plumbing system. We often see small backups, that could have easily been taken care of, turn into large, hard to handle blockages. This goes for your kitchen and bathroom sink.
Please be mindful of not letting any of these down your kitchen sink:
- Cooking Oils, Fats, and Liquids – When cooking liquids—such as fats and oils—are warm, they can act like liquid; the problem is when they cool and harden. Once the oils find their way into the drain, they can harden and create a buildup in a pipe. Other debris can cling to this buildup, making it larger and larger, until a frustrated homeowner is dealing with a clogged sink.
- Coffee Grounds – One of the most common things we see clogging sinks are coffee grounds. It’s a common misconception that coffee grounds are water soluble. They are not. When put down the drain, coffee grounds can lead to a huge backup.
- Eggshells – There’s a myth floating around that grinding eggshells can sharpen the blades of a garbage disposal. This is not true, do not put eggshells down the disposal. Putting eggshells down the drain has the opposite effect. Eggshells will dull your blades and add to any preexisting buildup in your pipes.
- Pasta and Rice – Pasta and rice both do the same thing when they’re wet; they expand and will clog your pipes.
The same principle can be applied to your bathroom sink. The biggest difference is that lots of organic materials can find their way into a bathroom sink on accident.
Don’t Forget the Bathroom
When it comes to your bathroom sink, please try to keep these from reaching the drain:
- Hair – Hair is one of the easiest ways to clog a drain. Whether you’re brushing long locks above the sink, or shaving over your drain; either way, loose hair will create a backup and can easily stick to anything already in your pipes.
- Medication – While medication won’t do anything to clog your plumbing, it benefits us to put it in here. Medication can cause serious harm your local ecosystem when put down the drain.
- Large Soap Chunks – Over time, a bar of soap can flake or break apart, leaving large soap chunks in your sink. Though it may seem easy to just dump that soap down the drain, it’s best not to do it. Sacramento has notoriously hard water. Once that hard water interacts with your soap, it creates soap scum that can lead to a blockage in your sink.
- Q-Tips and Cotton – Just like pasta and rice, any cotton products expand when they’re wet. It’s easy to accidently get some cotton in the sink and flush it down the drain, but please be on a lookout for it. Cotton products will stick to any existing backup and cause an even larger clog.
One of the best ways to take care of your sinks is to call Bell Brothers and schedule a plumbing maintenance inspection.
When in Doubt, call a Plumber Out
If you’re wondering what could be lurking in your pipes, don’t hesitate to schedule a plumbing maintenance inspection! Homeowners choose a plumbing maintenance inspection because it helps elongate the life of your plumbing system, and it catches small problems before they turn into big ones. At Bell Brothers, we recommend a yearly plumbing maintenance inspection to ensure the health and longevity of your pipes. During an inspection, our plumbers will:
- Visually inspect the water heater
- Inspect all toilets
- Inspect the main sewer line
- Inspect drain lines
- Check for pressurized plumbing
- Inspect for proper ventilation
- Inspect all plumbing insulation
- Search for any gas leaks
- Test the quality of your tap water
- Inspect all shut off valves
- Verify proper clean out
After your inspection, our plumbers will give you the health of your plumbing and any recommendations. Our plumbing inspections are for the safety of your system, home, and family.
Need a Plumbing Maintenance Inspection? Call the Experts at Bell Brothers!
Want to avoid an emergency plumber visit? It’s time to call the experts at Bell Brothers! Our plumbers are expertly trained and know how to inspect, diagnose, and fix most plumbing systems. If you can’t remember the last time you had your pipes inspected, now is a great time to schedule a plumbing maintenance inspection. Bell Brothers has served Sacramento homeowners for over 20 years. If you want to see why we’ve been in business this long, call the number at the top of the screen and schedule an appointment today.