Oops. I meant someone without a disposal... Fixed.what would the upper class be pumping if they don't have a septic tank?
I advise the following on a monthly basis for the kitchen sink:
Fill (to the top) the sink with HOT water, add one cup household bleach, pull the stopper.
The hot water loosens any built-up grease while the bleach cleans and sanitizes.
You can do this in bathroom sinks every so often to help flush out soap scum and hair, also.
I pour a cup of floor stripper down each drain each month. Disolves buildup, doesn't work for clogged drains. It's cheaper and the same stuff as the Drano maintenance stuff.
For the other pipes, have your wife clean them out. Rinse. Repeat.
when i meant 'shove solids down' i mean solids that fit through those 4 little holes in the botton of your sink. not even the strainer, but where the strainer sits there usually a bracket and that makes the drain small as it is. if you can get something to go through it, it will run down the pipes just fine.
as others mentioned, when you grind up food it creates sludge. i have seen pipes 10ft long packed absolutely full of it. garbage disposals are the reason. they are convenient, but they can easily clog up pipes.
Iron pipe? Probably. I have seen that too.as others mentioned, when you grind up food it creates sludge. i have seen pipes 10ft long packed absolutely full of it. garbage disposals are the reason. they are convenient, but they can easily clog up pipes.
Iron pipe? Probably. I have seen that too.
Copper drains? No.
PVC drains? No.
You can fit little rocks down the strainer...they are just going to sit in the trap and / or get stuck further down the pipe.
you can also fit epoxy down a drain
Lots of stories about people losing their houses to foreclosure finding a way to fit lots of cement/concrete down their drains too.
That's not exactly recommended for good drain maintenance though...:whiste:
yes. pvc packed fulll of sludge. the middle there was a hole about the size of a pen all the way down the pipe. thats why all my attempts to unclog it were frivolous. the whole pipe was removed, and the 10ft section weighed about 100lbs
anyone else want to tell me im wrong through their own experiences they havent had?
My house has a main drain line that was destroyed from the previous owners (two generations since the house was built) that swore by weekly Drano treatments with an iron plumbing system.
I have seen PVC drains break during a snakeing procedure esp with the snake just going clean through the side of the pipe and getting stuck in the ground beyond it.
It's very rare, but turns a simple de-clog into a full weekend or more (if you have to dig under the house) of work.
No idea on pipe maintenance, but funny story from work I overheard.
Geniuses decided to put in waterless urinals way back when. Well, aside from them stinking up the entire bathroom (what happens to stale urine you spray all over a large surface and never flush, duh?) and the fact that they clogged once every few weeks, they corroded the pipes. The lack of flushing allowed a concentrated solution of piss (ammonia?) to get into the pipes, and corroded them.
They just finished reno'ing all washrooms in the building and put in auto-flushing urinals.
dont pour grease down them of course. oil isnt as bad but it can mix with other stuff and make sludge too.
otherwise, no. theres really nothing you can do. theyre very resilient as they are.
oh, and if you have a garbage disposal, get rid of it. all they do is turn solid waste into sludge that can clog pipes. its better to just shove solids down the drain with water because every 10ft or so the pipes get bigger, so if it gets past the sink trap it will get past everything.
You are a liar!!!yes. pvc packed fulll of sludge. the middle there was a hole about the size of a pen all the way down the pipe. thats why all my attempts to unclog it were frivolous. the whole pipe was removed, and the 10ft section weighed about 100lbs
anyone else want to tell me im wrong through their own experiences they havent had?