As a homeowner, you need regular maintenance for different parts of your home to keep everything in good working condition. One thing you don’t want to forget is getting an annual drain cleaning service. Below, we’ll discuss what this is and why you need it.
What is Drain Cleaning?
Drain cleaning service involves one of our plumbing professionals visiting your home to use high-pressure water to thoroughly clean the inside of all your drains and sewer lines. This effectively removes any debris buildup that would otherwise lead to a clog in your sewer line.
Most homeowners should invest in a drain cleaning service at least once a year. Those who have many residents in their home or outdated piping that develops more frequent clogs should consider more frequent cleanings.
Reasons for Poor Drainage
There are many different factors that can influence how quickly your sewer line gets clogged with debris. It’s important to understand these factors so that you can work to mitigate them as much as possible. This will greatly reduce your risk of experiencing frequent plumbing clogs at your home.
Flushing the Wrong Items
One of the biggest contributors to plumbing clogs is putting the wrong items down your drains. When it comes to your toilets, you want to avoid flushing flushable wipes or feminine hygiene products.
Both of these take a very long time to deteriorate and can clog your sewer line. Additionally, you should avoid putting any grease, fat, or oil down your sinks. This will solidify into a gel-like substance that will attract all sorts of negative items.
High Humidity and Heat
Florida’s unique climate of hot weather mixed with high humidity creates the perfect conditions for unwanted bacteria, biofilm, and even microbial growth inside your pipes. This can lead to premature deterioration as well as clogging. In addition, items like grease and soap scum will harden much faster in warm, humid conditions, leading to more frequent clogs in your sewer line.
Tree Roots
There’s no lack of lush vegetation in the Florida area. Unfortunately, while that vegetation may look beautiful, it comes along with aggressive root systems that can invade your already susceptible sewer line. Any sewer line with existing cracks will encourage roots to grow through the crack and expand it to reach the natural fertilizer provided by your wastewater. This happens much faster during times of drought when tree roots are seeking out moisture wherever they can find it.
Flooding and Heavy Rains
Florida’s location right next to the coast makes it highly susceptible to hurricane-force winds and heavy rainstorms. These sudden downpours can easily overwhelm your sewage system if it’s not specifically designed to handle excess stormwater. This could lead to a backup of sewage in your yard and even inside your home.
Benefits of Routine Drain Cleaning
There’s no doubt that all Florida homeowners need to be getting drain cleaning service at least once a year to keep their sewage system in good working condition. There are many different benefits of investing in this service for your home.
Catch Problems
Routine drain cleaning is great for identifying any problems with your sewer line so that they can be repaired before the issue gets any worse. During our routine drain cleaning, we’ll use an inspection camera to examine the inside of your sewer line for potential issues like cracking and tree root intrusion. If we identify any of these problems, we can easily work to remove the tree roots or repair the crack to prevent further clogging of your line.
Prevent Costly Pest Problems
Another great reason to invest in routine drain cleaning is to prevent costly pest issues. Whenever wastewater backs up in your line or even in your home, it can attract unwanted pests. All it takes is a little clog in your system to allow those sewage odors to penetrate your sinks and attract unwanted flies, cockroaches, and other unsavory pests.
With Florida’s natural climate making pest infestations much worse than in other states, it pays to do your best to prevent pests from being attracted to your sewer line in the first place.
Understand Remaining Lifespan
One lesser-known benefit of drain cleaning service is that you can learn how much longer your sewage line is likely to last. This is especially important if you have an older home that doesn’t have an updated sewer line. Our technicians can let you know if there is any major damage that will require repairs or replacement in the near future. By keeping your sewage line in good working condition, you can greatly minimize your chance of experiencing plumbing issues.
Enhance Piping Lifespan
One advantageous reason to invest in a drain cleaning service for your home is to extend the longevity of your sewer and drain lines. When your lines receive the proper care that they need, they’ll last much longer than lines that don’t. Since replacing sewer lines can be quite costly, it only makes sense to invest a little each year to help extend the lifespan of your sewage line.
Tips on Reducing Drain Problems
While routine drain cleaning is one of the best ways to help minimize your risk of experiencing a major problem with your sewage line, there are other things you can do to further decrease your risk. Using drain strainers is an easy way to catch unwanted items from going down your drain. This includes everything from soap scum to hair and even coffee grounds.
By catching these in the strainer and emptying them into the garbage can instead of allowing them to go down your drain, you don’t have to worry about them creating a clog. We highly recommend using drain strainers in all your sinks and showers.
When you experience a minor plumbing issue, you may try to handle it with over-the-counter drain cleaners. This is not advised as many of these cleaners have very harmful chemicals that can deteriorate the inside of your piping. These drain cleaners will drastically shorten the lifespan of your plumbing system.
If you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen to help get rid of unwanted food waste, it’s important to be mindful about what you put down it. You should avoid putting any fibrous foods, coffee grounds, potato peels, and even eggshells down your drain. Whenever running your garbage disposal, ensure that you always have a steady stream of hot water to prevent unwanted jamming and clogs.
It’s crucial to invest in a backflow valve for your plumbing system, especially if you live in a region that experiences routine flooding. This will prevent any backflow of wastewater into your home. Additionally, if you have trees and other vegetation near your home, be sure that the trees are trimmed back to prevent intrusion into your sewer line.
Reliable Drain Cleaning Service
Plumbing, Cooling & Electrical Nerds offers reliable drain cleaning service for the Southwest Florida community, including Bonita Springs, Naples, Estero, Fort Myers, and Cape Coral. We can also help with all your sewer line, backflow prevention, sewer inspection, sewer repair, drain tunneling, hydro jetting, and slab leak repair needs. Simply call our office today to book your next service consultation.
