Preventing Blocked Drains

There are few parts of our homes and businesses which can really cause a lot of problems like our drains. Blocked drains can lead to a whole range of potential issues, many of which require costly repairs. Thanks to professional drainage specialists, you can remove all kinds of blockages from your property. However, it is just as important to understand why they are happening in the first place, which is where professional CCTV drain surveys come in.

Preventing blocked drains can often be fairly easy. It usually comes down to being more careful about the substances you put down your drains, but can include the replacement of damaged pipes. However, there are lots of things that you can do at home to help reduce the risk of blocked drains before you have to call the CCTV drain specialists.

How to Prevent Blocked Drains in Your Home or Business

Even just being aware of the kinds of things you are putting down your sink can make a major impact on the health and reliability of your drains. Food waste is one of the most common causes of blockages, and taking steps to eliminate this waste, or dispose of it in a different way, can greatly improve the longevity of your drains.

Coffee grounds and cooking grease are two of the most common causes of blocked drains – when you combine this with loose hair and soap scum, it isn’t difficult to see how large blockages can appear and prevent your drains from working effectively.

Just some of the ways you can prevent blockage include:

• Rather than pouring it down the sink, transfer your cooking grease into an empty can and dispose of it elsewhere.
• Instead of rinsing coffee grounds down the sink, throw them away! Most coffee grounds can also be added to your mulch pile where they will break down naturally.
• We recommend using a screen or a drainage-gate over your sink’s drain. This can stop larger objects from being washed into your drains, as well as eliminate the risk of hair and soap scum from entering your pipes. These screens are cheap and widely available for a full range of sink sizes and styles. They don’t require installation either, as most can simply by placed in the sink or plughole.

In addition to taking the above steps to prevent blockages from developing, there are also some home tricks you can use to eliminate smaller blockages before they develop into larger ones. These can include:

• Vinegar – If you pour a small cup of vinegar down your drain, you can usually clear out minor organic blockages. Ideally, you want to let the vinegar sit in your drain for about half an hour – this will give it time to break down the organic material blocking your pipes – before following it down with hot water. This is a really effective way of clearing organic waste from your pipes.
• Hot Water – It might not seem like much, but taking a few seconds to run hot water through your sink after you’ve used it can make a real difference. Hot water can keep organic products and oils running along your drains, rather than causing them to settle on the interior of your pipes. We see this a lot when dealing with blocked drains – if you keep preventing these build-ups, you can often cut blockages down at the source.

Deal with Blocked Drains Quickly and Efficiently

There are times when a blockage is too big to deal with on your own. In these circumstances, you need to get in touch with a professional team of drainage specialists. They will be able to quickly and easily identify your blockage and deal with it in the most effective way possible.

This will commonly involve a quick CCTV drain survey, which can be essential when it comes to understanding the overall health of your drainage system. After all, blockages aren’t the only things that can cause long-lasting damage to your drains. Rodents and questing roots can also severely damage your pipes. It is important that these issues are identified and dealt with as quickly as possible to prevent costly repairs.

Deal with Your Blocked Drains Today

There are a range of drainage companies that deliver a range of comprehensive solutions to deal with drainage issues.

Blocked drains can lead to a full range of problems, many of which require extremely costly repairs and can take weeks to effectively deal with. You need to make sure your drains are operating as smoothly and efficiently as possible to prevent these issues.