You might not think about it, but your daily activities—like washing hands, showering, or doing the dishes—constantly use your drains.
Over time, debris like soap scum, grease, and hair build up in the pipes, leading to slow drainage or even clogs if ignored.
So, how often should you clean your drains? Ideally, once a month is the minimum, but weekly cleanings are best to prevent issues.
This guide will show you simple ways to clean your drains and the signs that it’s time to call a professional. Grab your gloves, and let’s get started!
How To Clean Your Drains
Adding another task to your weekly cleaning routine might not sound exciting, but cleaning your drains is quicker and easier than you think.
Unless there’s an existing issue or you’ve neglected regular upkeep, this chore should take just 5–10 minutes using the methods below.
Safe Way To Clean Drains
Let’s start from the easiest to the toughest ones:
- Hot Water
Though it might not sound convincing, you’d be surprised at what hot water and a little gravity can do to drains.
For this to work, you’ll have to prepare a large pot, fill it with water, add a quarter cup of salt if you’d like, place it on the stove, and let it boil.
Once done, wear your kitchen gloves, move the pot on top of the drain, and pour slowly. The hot water should help melt the grease and potentially remove blockages.
- Plunger
If hot water on its own isn’t enough, you can add a plunger to the mix. After pouring the water down the drain, give it a minute, then use the plunger to unclog the pipes as much as you can.
After that, run hot water down the drain again to help flush away any loosened debris.
- Baking Soda and Vinegar
A classical mix you can use for more than pipe cleaning is baking soda and vinegar. This mixture creates a chemical reaction that leaves you with a bubbling solution that can help dissolve grease and unclog your drains—neither option can do that on its own!
Stay Away From Chemical Options
When dealing with clogged drains, you might find a friend or a family member advising you to use a commercial chemical option to unclog your drains. We, on the other hand, strongly recommend against using them.
Chemical cleaners can ruin the pipes by corroding the metal, meaning you’ll need to replace the pipes soon enough. Most are also harmful to the environment and aren’t suitable for all types of clogs. In short, try the previous few tricks before considering anything else.
Home Drain Maintenance
There are a few things you can do to keep your drains cleaner for longer and avoid dealing with blockages, such as:
- Dispose of Garbage Properly
There are a few things you can throw down the drain without worry, like small food scraps, soft food waste, and biodegradable items.
However, certain food items, especially in large quantities, can cause issues. For instance, greasy or oily foods solidify in your pipes and cause blockages.
Starchy foods like pasta, rice, and potato peels expand with water and create sticky clogs. Moreover, fibrous foods like celery, corn husks, onion skins, and other stringy vegetables can wrap around disposal blades and block the system.
To avoid creating an obstacle in the system, throw away a small portion of food waste at a time. Occasionally, you can add a few ice cubes to clean the blades and remove stuck residue.
- Use Strainers
Adding a strainer is a simple yet effective way of preventing unwanted debris, food scraps, and hair from entering your pipes.
You should add one to your kitchen sink to catch food particles and to your shower and bathroom drains to trap hair and soap buildup. We recommend going for stainless steel or silicone strainers, as they’re durable, easy to clean, and widely available.
- Clean Weekly With Hot Water or Baking Soda
Again, while we know your week is probably full of cleaning house chores, adding this one is a small but essential task that can save you from bigger plumbing problems down the line.
You can start with a kettle full of hot water instead of a pot and pour its content slowly down the drain every weekend. If you want to take it a step further, use baking soda and vinegar for a natural deep clean.
When To Contact A Professional Cleaning Service
Sometimes, the problems with your drains can’t be solved with quick home remedies and you’ll need to contact a professional drain cleaning service. Some of these problems include:
- Too Many Clogs
The first sign of a problem with your drains is frequent or recurring clogs. Frequent clogs can indicate a buildup of grease, soap scum, or debris that has solidified over time.
It may also point to a more complex issue, like tree roots intruding on underground pipes or poorly installed plumbing. When clogs return despite your efforts, it’s best to call a professional with the right tools to identify and fix the problem.
- Water Backing Up
Another red flag is water backing up into your sinks, tubs, or toilets. This happens when a blockage prevents water from flowing freely through the pipes, forcing it to come back up.
Water backup is not only unpleasant but also unhygienic, and it can indicate a significant blockage or even damage to your sewer line.
- Slow Drainage
Finally, if you’re experiencing slow drainage, even after you’ve tried home solutions, there may be a persistent blockage or partial obstruction deep within your pipes.
Slow drains often start small but worsen over time, eventually leading to complete clogs if left untreated.
In short, when clogs become frequent, water backs up, or drains stay slow despite best efforts, it’s time to step back and let a professional handle the situation.
If you live in Boulder, CO, give us a call and we can send a professional to help diagnose the root cause and clean your pipes thoroughly, saving you time, stress, and potential repair costs.
FAQs
Before wrapping up, here are some common questions to help you better understand how to keep your drains in top shape:
Do drain cleaners actually work?
This is a tough question as there isn’t a clear answer. In a way, most drain cleaners do their task effectively within minutes.
However, their efficiency depends on the type and severity of the clog, meaning they don’t work all the time.
Regardless, remember that drain cleaners aren’t that good for the environment or your pipes, especially PVC, leading to future repair costs.
What happens if you don’t clean your drains often?
Ignoring your drains for too long can cause stubborn buildup that not only leads to clogs but can escalate into full blockages, putting your pipes at risk of damage. Worse still, the trapped debris can become a breeding ground for bacteria, creating health hazards.
