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Cleaning your drains can extend the life of your plumbing and reduce the need for emergency plumbing. The right drain cleaning service helps homeowners in the metroplex have clog-free toilets, showers without standing water, and fast-draining sinks and tubs. Here’s all you need to know about drain cleaning service, from your friends at bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North East Dallas.
Do My Drains Need Cleaning?
The short answer? Yes. Every home in Richardson, TX, needs drain cleaning preventative maintenance service to ensure that the pipes stay clear and you don’t have a back-up or excess pressure that can cause a burst pipe. Professional cleaning of your drains is part of the general upkeep of your home, and you don’t need to wait until the drain is clogged for this service.
Signs That You Need Professional Drain Cleaning Service
Obviously, an overflowing drain is an indicator that you need service, but before it gets to emergency flooding levels, there are some other signs that your drains need attention.
Foul odors or smelly drains
This is most common in the kitchen, where different types of food end up in your sink drain and garbage disposal. When people put food down the garbage disposal, it may not get chopped up fine enough to pass through the pipes. The food may actually be rotting in your sink, so if you notice your drains are smelly, this can indicate a potential clog. Fruit flies in the kitchen also indicate rotting food in the pipes, as fruit flies eat the waste.
Frequent backups
The drain cleaners that you buy at your local hardware store may temporarily resolve a clog or standing water, but they aren’t the same as a professional service. These chemicals may contribute to the clogs, as they don’t fully resolve the clumps for removal. In addition, the chemicals are corrosive, harsh enough to disintegrate clogs, but also harsh on your pipes. Frequently using these chemical solvents can wear down your pipes, making thinner spots that may result in a burst pipe.
Slow drains
If you notice that your sinks, tub, or shower drain slowly, or if there’s a puddle of standing water that takes a long time to drain, it’s a clue that you have a partially clogged pipe. Scheduling drain cleaning service from your Richardson, TX, plumber can make sure that these small clogs are removed before they completely block the pipe.
Standing water
If your tub, sink, or shower isn’t draining at all and is full of standing water, then your pipe is completely blocked. This means you need drain cleaning service, as the chemical solvents aren’t going to be powerful to both disintegrate the clog and remove the waste and material.
What to Expect from Drain Cleaning Service
A good service doesn’t just show up to fix your pipes. They also diagnose your home’s overall plumbing concerns. You may be asked how old your home is if you’ve had plumbing issues before, and even if there are larger trees whose roots may be interfering with your pipes. So a comprehensive “interview’ with your bluefrog plumber comes first.
When we come to your home, we’ll perform a diagnosis of the affected area using a small camera threaded into the drain and pipes. What we find will determine the method we use for your drain cleaning service.
At this point, your plumber will discuss the procedures to be used, an approximation of how long it will take, and establishing clear access to the service area. Then, the drain cleaning service begins.
At bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, we treat your home as if it were our own. Our technicians carefully cover the service area with drop cloths, securing them to prevent mess or damage to the room and fixtures. Then, we run the drain cleaning machine to remove the clogs and safely dispose of them. When we’re finished, we’ll reinspect the drain and pipes to make sure we didn’t miss anything, and then test your fixtures to ensure that they run properly.
After we’ve fixed the problem, we clean everything up, leaving your home as good as new!
Ways To Prevent Clogged Drains
Announcement of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that’s very true for your home’s plumbing system. Understanding how to care for your drains can keep you from needing an emergency drain cleaning service.
Making sure that certain things don’t belong in the sink can help reduce clogs and blockage. In the kitchen, for example, food waste should go in the trash can, not the garbage disposal. The teeth of the disposal are small and intended to chop up small amounts of food from washing dishes, not large chunks of food. These things should never go down your kitchen drain:
- Coffee grounds – in fact, many plumbers say these are the most common source of clogs!
- Cooking oil or grease – when grease from meat cools, it solidifies. Over tie, repeatedly pouring grease in your kitchen sink will end up as a large clump with waxy consistency that also catches other food chunks for a giant clog
- Eggshells
- Produce stickers – remove these and throw away before washing your fruit and veggies
Clogs don’t just happen in the sink. You can prevent toilet clogs by keeping these things out of your commode:
- Condoms
- “Flushable” kitty litter
- Baby or personal wipes
- Tampons and pads
- Cotton balls
- Paper towels
Finally, refrain from putting household chemicals or paint in your drains. Consult your local hardware store about the proper way to dispose of these items.
Book Your Appointment Today!
Bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of Northeast Dallas is committed to working with you. Regular drain cleaning should be part of the preventative maintenance that you perform on your home. Our technicians are trained to work quickly, with minimal mess, getting your plumbing moving smoothly, fast. We also know that emergencies happen, and we also offer 24-hour emergency service. Give us a call or visit us online to schedule your service, and save our number, just in case!