Your drainage system is made to handle waste water and not any other materials. But we cannot be sure that no other materials/objects will find their way down the drain.

There was a time that I thrown rice down the sink after eating and after that, the drain had a hard time flushing the rice down. I know, it was stupid of me to do that but it was an honest mistake. You might know what to throw down the sink and what not to.

The most common area for draining related problems are in the sinks and toilets. You may know the usual things that will block drains, but trust me; there are a lot of things that you don’t realise that causes problems to your drains.  

Below are more causes drainage blockage and eventually damage your plumbing system:

• Condoms – If you are going to “do” it with this, please don’t throw condoms down the trash. These are not easily broken down and may take years to do it and it is not advisable to flush this down the toilet. Instead, throw it in your trash.

• Fat – Fat may be one of the things you least expect to be here. It sticks, builds up then eventually cause a blockage that will affect the drain. It may not affect it the first few months but it will soon cause some problems with it being lodged places. 

• Wipes – Wipes, especially baby wipes might be disposable but do they really need to be thrown down the toilet? – No. Take the time to go and buy a trash can with a lid for your convenience.

• Bath Salts – Bubble baths are fancy and using Bath Salts is the way to do that. Bath Salts are supposed to dissolve in water right? So that means you don’t have to worry about it, right? Well, it’s actually both yes and n because alot of them don’t dissolve thoroughly.  When you use them, you may notice that some of them don’t get dissolve, they usually look like lumps and lodges to places. 

• Fancy Multi-ply Toilet Paper – Fancy toilet papers might sound like a good idea, but people don’t realize that you are not adjusting your usage of paper even though you have a multiple ply of toilet paper already and end up throwing more into toilets and will eventually cause problems for your toilets, drains and plumbing system.

• Cotton Buds – Cotton Buds are often dropped into toilets or down drains. They might be flushed down from view, but these things might be lodged inside your plumbing system even though your toilet is clear in sight, but you cannot see what’s going on down there. 

• Children’s Toys – Remember the toy robot that can be assembled and disassembled you gave your child for the holidays?  The breakable parts of toys like that come off in the bath if your child chooses to play with it while bathing.  To prevent this, do yourself a favor and take the time to tell your children not to bring those kinds of toys to the bath and tell them not to play in the sink. 

Blocked drains are the start leading to major issues in your plumbing system. They start as minor issues but can quickly escalate. As they say, prevention is better than cure. 

Quick tip from Around the Bend Plumber in Frankston  “If your used of just throwing food to the sink before washing them, you should change your habit to throw it to a trash bin that is separated from the normal bin. If you don’t have a separate one yet, please invest in one. It is a life saver! 

No matter how fancy your house is, how advance your plumbing system is, how nice your appliances are, all are prone to damage; some just take a longer time to see that it needs repairs. Among some of the top culprits are hair, cotton buds, toilet papers, food, soap, and toys. You should always practice prevention before learning how to deal with the problem. It is better to learn and understand the causes, fix your existing problems, then practice prevention when all are done and are ready for a new round.