Your Homes Hero- The Plumbing System

One of the unsung heroes of your home is your plumbing system. The plumbing work of any facility is often overlooked, except ours of course! That’s why we often surprise our customers when we point out the little things that they are doing to sabotage their own systems. It’s hard to know what you don’t know, right? On that note, here are some common things we see our customers doing that backfire and end with a frantic call to us.

​Your drain seems like a logical place to dumb kitchen liquids, but it’s actually one of the worst things you can do for your pipes! Anything greasy or oily needs to go in the trash. The grease may be liquid when used for cooking, but eventually hardens inside your piping. Overtime, the greasy patches can catch other items attempting to travel through the drain, and cause catastrophic clogs. Be mindful of anything you are putting down your drains!

This one goes out to the DIYers of the world. If you’ve ever grabbed your flashlight and taken a look under the sink, maybe tightened a fitting or two, this is for you. We naturally tighten things to ensure that they’re secure, after all, you don’t want water to leak out everywhere. This intuitive thinking is great, but misplaced here. Over-tightening in plumbing actually causes the fittings to crack overtime. This goes for plastic fittings, hex nuts, all of the above. You can actually destroy your porcelain toilet by over tightening, so be cautious and if you’re ever unsure, contact us!

The market leads us to believe that chemical drain cleaners are the way to go, but we are here to say the opposite. This is yet another common mistake that homeowners make when taking clogs into their own hands. Chemical drain cleaners are bad for the environment, and bad for your plumbing! These cleaners create a lot of issues for galvanized plumbing, including speeding up corrosion. There are natural ways to unclog toilets, such as using an auger, or vinegar and baking soda solutions. If you have a stuck clog that’s too much to handle on your own, you know who to call. 

The last thing we’d like to leave you with, is something that’s fairly straightforward. Your drains are for fluids, the toilet is for bodily waste. Some plumbing is so finicky it can’t handle toilet paper, so keep that in mind when you flush. Nothing should go down your drains beyond what they are intended for, so keep trash, hygiene products, and anything else out of the toilet or garbage disposal! This will keep your plumbing working it’s best for longest. 
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As always, we are around for any mistakes you may make with your plumbing. Your secrets are safe with us, judgement free! We aim to help in any way possible, so even if you just have some questions about the how or why of a product or repair, we are here to help! Call Tony’s today for any and all your plumbing needs.

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