Everything You Should Never Pour Down The Drain

For most people, it seems like pouring any unwanted liquid down the drain is the easy, simple, and clean way of being done with it. However, many don’t consider the repercussions.

Just like how what you eat and drink can affect your teeth and mouth, many liquids and objects can cause accelerated wear and tear, or even outright damage, in your plumbing as well as elsewhere in your water infrastructure. Keep this in mind as you dispose of the following materials:

Coffee Grounds

Although most people assume that coffee grounds are harmless to pipes, they’re one of the most common causes of blockages.

In addition, coffee grounds have many uses other than being thrown down the drain. For example, they can be used to make coffee face scrubs, which are excellent for your skin and very popular these days, or even as fertilizer or compost.

Eggshells

This is another thing that a lot of people think that they can put down the drain, especially if they use the garbage disposal. However, it turns out that eggshells have a tendency to grab onto things like grease and fats, and this may cause clogging in your pipes.

If you’re looking for something to do with your eggshells, consider crushing them and putting them in a pot of soil where you’re trying to grow a plant. Eggshells are great for healthy soil and will pass key nutrients to your plants.

Produce Stickers

When you peel the sticker off of a banana or apple as you’re going to clean the fruit, it seems harmless to toss the sticker into the sink and let it eventually wash down the drain. However, if put in the drain, these stickers will either get stuck in the pipes and cause clogging or might even slip through the filters entirely.

Flushable Cat Litter

A lot of cat litter is advertised as safe to flush down the toilet, but this is not entirely true.

"Flushable" cat litter can be caught in your pipes and drains, and that can cause clogging. In addition, cat feces can harbor a dangerous parasite that is extremely harmful and causes diseases in humans. It may not be destroyed entirely by water treatment, which can put the health of humans and marine life in danger.

Grease

Grease is one of the most common things that homeowners are cautioned not to put down the drain. However, grease is not just bacon or ham grease. Grease includes meat fats, lard, cooking oil, shortening, butter, margarine, food scraps, bacon goods, dairy products, and sauces.

Greases stick to the inside of pipes and build up until the pipes are clogged up and completely blocked. This blockage occurs in your pipes at home, but it also happens in public sewage systems once the grease has left your pipes.

Condoms

Although some people believe that latex eventually dissolves in water -- in the case of latex condoms, it doesn't. Condoms that are flushed down the toilet or put down the drain will end up stuck, sooner or later.

Paper Towels and Cotton Balls

These materials may be biodegradable, but they also have a high capacity for absorption. And when they absorb water, they grow larger and clog up slim and narrow pipes.

Flushable Wipes

Although these may be okay to put down the drain by themselves, they often combine with things like grease and eggshells to create a knot of materials that will clog up your drain.

Paint

Paint is very harmful to your pipes because if it is poured down the drain, it will dry, harden, crack, and stay inside your pipes, promoting an environment for mold and causing clogs.

In addition, many paints contain hazardous ingredients that are harmful to all living creatures that come into contact with water contaminated by them.

Some of these items may clog up your drain so much that you will need to call a plumbing service like A1 Service Plumbing, who are known for having a 24-hour plumber available. Just remember these tips, and that an ounce of prevention is generally preferable to a pound of cure.