Toronto Plumbers Blog: Prevention Tips

Chemical concentrations, food product buildup and grease accumulation are the most common causes of drain clogs in Toronto homes. At their worst, these clogs require professional cleaning, or even repairs, which may not be possible given certain budgets or plumbing systems.

In the best-case scenario, however, you may be able to eliminate these clogs with several at-home methods and tools, before the need to contact a professional Toronto plumber ever arises. In this article, we’ve compiled the most effective, DIY drain cleaning techniques homeowners can use to mitigate the effects of clogs, and return their drain pipes to top performance.

Hot Water Could Do the Trick

Often overlooked due to its simplicity, sometimes a simple hot water cleanse could be all your clogged or dirty drains need to return to peak performance. Flushing your drain pipes with hot water can often dislodge clogged materials and buildup gunk, through a simple combination of water pressure, force and heat.

For the best results, try running hot water through your clogged or dirty drains for about 15 minutes. If all goes accordingly, the bare heat and force of the water will dislodge any buildups affecting your drain, and return your pipes to optimal working condition at no cost to you. As this flush requires nothing other than a working faucet, it’s the simplest potential drain cleaning techniques you can do.

Use Tools You Already Have

Other simple techniques you may not have considered for cleaning your drains can be done with tools you already own; before going out and purchasing DIY drain cleaning tools, or calling a professional Toronto plumber to assess your drains, try using these tools to perform easy, quick drain pipe fixes.

Your plunger; the bathroom plunger you already own may be the perfect solution for your clogged or poorly performing drains. Even more effective for sink drains are specialized sink plungers, which feature optimized designs ideal for sink applications.

Whichever plunger you have on hand, the technique for clearing a drain is essentially the same: just cover the entire drain opening with the plunger, and press back and forth in a continuous, fluid motion for about 1 to 2 minutes. Don’t jam the plunger down with excess force or speed. It’s the steady buildup of pressure from fluid motions that can remove significant pipe clogging.

Also, if the fixture in question is equipped with an overflow vent (such as those on most conventional sinks, which prevent overflows), be sure to cover these vents beforehand; otherwise, all the air and pressure you force into the drain will escape, rendering your efforts meaningless.

One way to get the best seal over a drain opening is by applying petroleum jelly to the rim of the plunger; this jelly temporarily seals your plunger to the fixture, preventing an air from escaping.

Home-made Liquid Cleaners

When the above techniques are impractical, or otherwise don’t work in your unique situation, you may want to try clearing your drains with homemade mixture solutions. Like commercial, chemical cleaners, these solutions can break down and dislodge any drain pipe buildup affecting your pipes; however, unlike commercial cleaners, these solutions do not come with the risk of pipe damage or deterioration after extended use.

The most common of these at-home mixtures is a simple vinegar and baking soda concoction; these products, which you may already have in your home pantry, react when combined to break down loose materials within pipes, and have no effects on the structure of the surrounding pipe walls.

Pour one cup of each down your drain pipes, and follow it after a short, 3 to 5 minute time-span with boiling water. If all goes well, this drain cleaning technique will remove any clogging in your drains, for a fraction of the price and danger risk of commercial chemical cleaners.

Use a Drain Snake for DIY Plumbing Service

One tool you may not have handy yet, but should if clogged drains or gunk accumulation are a common problem in your home, is a plumber’s drain snake. These tools are what professional plumbers typically use to relieve standard clogs and excavate drain pipes, and can be found at your local home improvement store for an affordable price (roughly $25 to $50) that can return on its investment after a single use.

While you may think these tools can only be properly used by the pros, Toronto homeowners have increasingly begun using snaking techniques to clear their own drains. DIY drain snaking techniques are as simple as 1-2-3:

Begin by feeding the snake through your drain pipes, turning the handle clockwise until you encounter resistance
Rotate the snake against the blockage, so the snake latches onto the clogged materials
Pull the snake from your drain slowly, removing the clogged material, and reassemble your drain cover

Just like that, your drains clog problems can be entirely eliminated without the need to contact a Toronto professional for help.

Sugared Sodas and Drain Clogs

This drain cleaning trick is often overlooked just for its strangeness; but it’s so unconventional, it just happens to work. Soft drinks and sugary sodas, such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola products, can resolve common drain clogs much like the home-made solutions featured previously in this blog.

Significantly safer than commercial drain cleaners, like the baking soda and vinegar solutions, soda applications can break through clogged debris thanks to the dissolving agents included in these sodas; most notably, phosphoric acid. These agents, surprisingly, may even be more effective than chemical, commercial cleaners. It just goes to show, when it comes to effective drain cleaning, sometimes the unconventional solutions are the best ones out there.

Prevention Tips to Keep Your Drain Running Well

As you may expect, one of the best ways to eliminate the problems drain clogs cause is by avoiding clogging altogether. Here at Mister Plumber, we suggest performing monthly performance checks on your drains, and having a professional plumbing inspection at least once per year. By taking proactive measures, you can limit these clogs altogether, or catch them in their early stages before they develop into more severe and costly problems.

Beyond regular self- and professional inspections, simply knowing what your drains can and cannot process is one of the best ways to limit clogging. Avoid putting stringy, fibrous foods through your drains and garbage disposal, as well as food wrappers, animal bones, paper products and kitchen grease; these are the most common clog-causing agents.

If you are still looking for trusted plumber, Mister Plumber in Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough, North York specializing sewer repair, upgrade waterline, water service upgrade, drain cleaning, backwater valve installation, lead pipe replacement, re-piping and emergency plumbing, Mister Plumber uses the latest technology to effectively troubleshoot and quickly repair any plumbing problem and offers a fast response and free estimates.

More Info: www.misterplumber.ca

Reliable and Trustworthy Plumbing services.

Call a fully-licensed, bonded and insured Toronto plumber at 416 939 1530

Before reaching out to plumbing professionals in Toronto for professional drain damage inspections, there are some handy home remedies you can try; remedies that often clear clogs or grease concentrations within home drain pipes. These simple solutions can usually be completed with items you already have in your home! Here, we have outlined ways Toronto homeowners have thought outside-the-box to resolve problems with their home drain pipes.

- Baking Soda Solutions

One of the more common home drain cleaning remedies, baking soda solutions are less damaging and probably cheaper than chemical drain cleaners. All you’ll need is regular baking soda and vinegar. Simply pour a cup of baking soda and one cup of warm vinegar down affected drains, and follow it after a few minutes with boiling water.

This home remedy is just as effective at removing clogs as chemical solutions, and much less chemically dangerous, or corrosive to your drain pipes.

- Everyday Plumbing Tools

You’d be surprised how effective everyday plumbing tools can be in eliminating drain clogs and performing repairs. Namely, conventional plungers, sink plungers and drain snakes. The plunger in your home right now can resolve sink and bathtub clogs, as well as toilet clogs.

Fill your clogged sink or bathtub a short way with water, and use your plunger the same way as you would with your toilet, pressing and pulling fluidly for about half a minute. Make sure to completely cover the drain with your plunger; you can also use petroleum jelly, coated on the brim of the plunger, to form a tighter seal around the drain. Move the plunger back and force consistently to build the pressure required to disrupt clogs.

Drain snakes, typically available at home improvements stores, can also be fed through drain pipes to dislodge clogged substances. Buying or renting a professional drain snake can be a cheaper alternative to hiring a plumbing specialist for your drain repair needs.

- Don’t Forget Overflow Vents!

What many homeowners forget to consider when cleaning clogs in their drains and repairing their pipes is their overflow vents. These are the open slits or holes near the brim of sink fixtures and bathtubs. These openings protect against water overflows, and funnel gratuitous water back into your plumbing system; because of this, they provide an additional air tunnel to your drain pipes, in addition to the actual drain entrance.

When unclogging a drain with a plunger, you will need to seal these overflow vents tightly to force maximum air pressure against a clog. A wet cloth usually will do the trick, and also catch any excess water trying to escape through the overflow vent. For side-by-side sinks, you may need to cover both vents (and the other sink’s drain) with a cloth, as they are likely connected to the same drain pipe. Remembering to cover these air vents is crucial for successful plunger solutions.

- Approach Clogs Like A Plumber

By this, we mean to approach clogged drains and damages from a professional plumber’s perspective; know how to navigate your pipe system, and properly dismantle or repair individual parts.

For example, many severe clogs can be remedied by removing your drain pipe’s plumbing trap. In most modern systems, this trap is known as a P-trap for its curved “P” shape. The curvature in these traps creates a water barrier between the air in your home and the unpleasant, even dangerous natural gases in municipal sewer lines. It is also in this curve, however, that grease and food debris can collect and form frustrating clogs. Plumbing traps are low-points in plumbing systems. Following the correct steps, however, removing and cleaning your plumbing traps can be a near effortless drain clog solution.

Simplified, these steps are:

Shut off water to your drain and plumbing trap
Use conventional tools to loosen nuts connecting the trap to the drain pipe; have a catching bucket in place for water and sludge spillage
Use a wire brush to clear out grease and clogging agents
Reattach the trap to your pipes, and test it by running water and watching for leaks

For a more in-depth explanation of plumbing trap cleaning, read our blog, “Understanding and Cleaning Plumbing Traps.” Plumbing professionals recommended that you regularly clean your plumbing traps, at least four times a year.

- A Sugary Solution: Soda Products

What may come as a shock to many homeowners is that drain clog solutions on par with chemical cleaners may be in their homes right now: sugary sodas, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, can virtually eliminate buildup in your drain pipes. In fact, cleaning your drains with soda is even safer than using chemical cleaners, which can cause skin burns upon contact and damage your drain pipes after extensive application.

The powerful dissolving agents in soda products, such as phosphoric acid, break down clog materials and grease with ease. This acid can even fight through some clogs and tough debris buildups that regular chemical cleaners cannot. Once poured through your drain pipes, flush the pipes with hot water to clear out the loose grease and food materials that cause your clog.

- Easy Prevention Tips

Prevention of drain damage and clogging is actually quite simple, if you understand what can and cannot be processed through drain pipes and your kitchen sink fixtures. A simple drain filter, which catches loose debris before it can flow down drains, will essentially prevent all large material buildup in your pipes, and can be found at your local home improvement store, if not department stores.

Knowing what kitchen garbage disposals can’t handle will also help you prevent many frustrating clogs from forming. Most garbage disposals are meant to handle easily processed food waste, yet many homeowners treat their disposals like a trash bin, resulting in the need for extensive drain repair.

Just as shower drains have trouble with hair clumps, kitchen garbage disposals cannot effectively process:

Potato and banana peels, or other food skins
Expandable rice or pasta
Celery, corn husks and other fibrous food products
Plastics, such as wrappers or containers
Animal bones and cartilage
Paper products, such as paper towels and napkins
Bleach, and other harmful chemicals
Food and kitchen grease, or oil

By following these tips, you can significantly improve your drain cleaning, clog-dissolving efforts. To learn more about effective drain pipe maintenance, or what other tools plumbing specialists use to resolve home plumbing issues, contact the Mister Plumber!

If you are looking for trusted plumber, Mister Plumber in Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough, North York specializing sewer repair, upgrade waterline, water service upgrade, drain cleaning, backwater valve installation, lead pipe replacement, re-piping and emergency plumbing, Mister Plumber uses the latest technology to effectively troubleshoot and quickly repair any plumbing problem and offers a fast response and free estimates.