There’s nothing homeowners love more than finding ways to cut costs when it comes to running and maintaining their dwelling.
Which is completely understandable – people want to enjoy living in their home without additional financial worries.
But when it comes to your plumbing, cutting corners can be a dangerous game. What seems like a simple DIY hack or tip becomes costly when a professional plumber is required to remedy the situation.
They say prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this couldn’t be truer when it comes to your home’s plumbing system.
When it comes to properly maintaining your plumbing system, treating it right is the first step in avoiding costly repairs. The next step is knowing when you can perform easy fixes and when to call in the professionals.
To ensure your home’s plumbing continues to work in tip-top shape, here are 5 common home plumbing misconceptions you should immediately unlearn and ignore:
1. You Can Mix Boiling Water with Grease Before Pouring Down the Drain
No matter how many ways people try to justify pouring grease down your drain instead of pouring it into a can and throwing it out later, you simply should not do it.
Grease, in any form, will cause problems and may even lead to the breakdown of your entire drainage system.
While mixing grease with boiling water may cause the grease to become liquified, it will cool and congeal as it travels through your pipes.
These fats, oils and grease will end up sticking to the inner walls of the sewer pipes over time, creating blockages that build-up and harden until they completely plug the pipes. Because these blockages are hard and solid, they can be difficult and costly to clean.
For more information on the types of things you should never flush down your drains, check out our article here!
2. As Long As Everything Goes Down the Drain, There Are No Plumbing Issues
There are many serious and expensive issues that go unseen when it comes to your plumbing. Just because everything seems to be working doesn’t necessarily mean it is.
Slow drainage indicates a blockage. Even if the water is disappearing down your drain, the slower rate means something is in its way. The longer you ignore the issue, the bigger the blockage will become.
Same goes for unusual smells and odors. This is a sign of an unseen leak. So while your drains are still draining and your toilet is still flushing, a leak is occurring somewhere in your home and can cause significant damage.
So when things start acting a little funny, don’t diagnose your plumbing’s health based on your drainage system. There can always be something lurking beneath the surface and should be looked at by a professional plumber.
3. You Can Save Water by Putting a Brick in the Toilet Tank
While the logic here seems to be that the more water you can displace in your toilet, the less you’ll use, it simply isn’t true.
There’s no real proof to back up this claim and testing this theory and doing so will cause an interruption in water flow and lead to damage to the interior of your toilet tank.
If you’re looking for ways to save on water consumption, you can use water-saver toilets and faucets or make sure to fix leaky toilets and faucets immediately.
Otherwise, leave the brick out of your toilet.
4. Chemical Drain Cleaners Work the Same as Professional Drain Cleaning
If this were true, professional plumbers would be out of a job!
Our first inclination as homeowners when it comes to blockages and backups is to fix the issue as quickly as possible. Plumbing is an important part of our everyday lives, so we don’t want to waste time getting it fixed.
However, chemical drain cleaners are not only detrimental to the environment but can cause unnecessary wear and tear on your plumbing over time as well as destroy the bacteria in your septic tank necessary to break down solids.
Plus, they are not as effective as a professional drain cleaning. Professional plumbers have access to high-end tools that can clear blockages without resorting to chemicals and other hazardous materials.
5. You Can DIY Most Plumbing Jobs
While there are many plumbing issues that require a quick-fix, homeowners without plumbing experience risk creating a larger problem than the one they originally set out to remedy.
If you’re looking to do simple repairs on your toilet or fix a leaky faucet, you’re probably safe by taking a trip to the hardware store and doing the repairs yourself.
Anything more involved than this, though, and you should be putting a call into a professional plumber.
Expert plumbers have the skills and tools to ensure the job is done thoroughly and properly.
Treat Your Plumbing Right
Plumbing systems are robust but they are not infallible. As long as you use and maintain them properly, pipes and drains should last for years.
However, when you start flushing things you shouldn’t flush or ignoring problems when they first start, you could be facing the headache of extensive and expensive repairs.
Take the worry out of plumbing issues by having our expert technicians at Peak Sewer inspect and maintain your home’s plumbing system.