The Unclog Blog - HELP Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electric

Preventing & Dealing With Ice Dams In Gutters

Before the cool months bring their wrath, it’s a good idea to take care of some things outside your home to prevent any winter damage. Ice dams can cause damage to your home, particularly the roof or gutters.

An ice dam forms when snow on the roof melts due to the heat escaping from the home. The water then runs to the gutter where there is no warmth. The water freezes and often blocks additional water from running off the roof.

In the worst case scenario, a buildup of snow and water can seep into the home, causing water damage.

Luckily, this scenario can be avoided.

While the gut reaction is to heat the roof, you actually want to cool it down, so the snow will stay that way. Make sure the insulation in your attic is enough to keep warm air inside your home. It’s also a good idea to check that attic heating ducts are away from the roof. Seal any holes around light fixtures, chimneys, and fans.

If it’s too late to prevent ice in your gutters, there are some solutions.

Start by clearing the spouts of any debris, so that once the ice does start to melt it has somewhere to go. Carefully use a rake or a broom to get snow off the roof and gutters. However, don’t climb onto an icy roof, and only pull in the same direction as the shingles to prevent damaging them.

You can chip away at a small portion of the ice, however know that the gutter is already under lots of strain. If the weather is warm enough, the ice will melt on it’s own.

If it is an emergency, use warm or hot water to help melt the ice. Be sure the water is warmer than the ice or it will freeze once it touches the ice, causing additional problems.

(Flickr Photo By regcmo) 

Things You Should Never Put Down the Garbage Disposal

Although the garbage disposal in your kitchen sink is a great place to get rid of many different kinds of food waste, there are some things that you should never put down there if you want your system to continue working properly.

Firstly, never put grease down the drain, even with the garbage disposal running. It will eventually solidify and clog the drain.

Never put any kind of vegetable with a stringy or tough peel in the garbage disposal. Examples include asparagus, lettuce, corn husks, artichokes, celery and potato peels. These vegetables’ tough, stringy materials’ can wrap themselves around the blades of your garbage disposal and stop the motor from working.

You also shouldn’t put egg shells down the disposal. Although it has been rumored that egg shells hel

 

p sharpen garbage disposal blades, this is a myth. Why shouldn’t you do it? They are too hard for the blades to break down into small enough pieces to rinse down the drain, and the thin membrane layer attached to the shell can wrap itself around your disposal’s shredder ring and jam it.

Another hard item that shouldn’t be processed in your garbage disposal is animal bones. A disposal simply isn’t designed to be strong enough to break down such tough items. The blades might break them down somewhat, but not into pieces small enough to fit down the drain.

 

Rice and pasta also cannot be broken down small enough to be safe for the garbage disposal. While they’re pretty small to begin with, they swell with water and can gather in the trap and clog it.

Don’t put pits or seeds from fruits and vegetables down the disposal, either – they can’t be broken down and can damage or break your disposal.

Lastly, it may seem like a no-brainer, but you should never put non-food items down the drain. Small items like twist-ties, rubber bands, pull tabs, screws and nails, and cigarette butts need to go in t

 

he trash, not down the garbage disposal. The same goes for small (or large) bits of paper, plastic, glass, metal, string, fabric, sponges, rags, plants or flowers. None of these items will break down well enough to rinse down the drain.

The Unclog Blog is written and published by

Thompson Plumbing Heating & Cooling

(Flickr Photo By ellenm1)

 

 

How to Remove Hair that’s Clogging Your Shower Drain

If your shower drain is clogged up, chances are: hair is the culprit. Many people turn to chemical drain cleaners to fix their hair-clogged shower drains, but you have other home solutions at your disposal that are cheaper and less-damaging to your pipes than pouring a bunch of chemicals down the drain.

Here’s one: gather a wire coat hanger, a paperclip, a plunger, and some rubber gloves (you’re gonna need the gloves; trust us). Straighten the body of a wire coat hanger and bend the hook so that it fits down the drain. Next, straighten out a paperclip.

Put on the rubber gloves and remove the drain strainer, if you can. Remove any hair from the top of the drain that you can reach with your fingers (bet you’re glad you remembered those gloves!)

If the shower still isn’t draining properly, run the water until about four inches fill up the tub or shower. Use a plunger on the shower drain to try to bring the hair closer to the top of the drain so you can remove it with your fingers.

Next, insert the hanger into the shower drain, hook-end first. Catch and remove any hair in the drain opening by moving it around and pulling it back out.

Do this a second time, this time pushing the hanger down as far as it will go without letting go of it, twisting it in a circular motion, and again pulling it up out of the drain and removing any hair.

Finally, use the paperclip to catch and remove any hair that in the top of the shower drain or strainer that the hanger didn’t catch. Now, the nasty part is over (hopefully).

If your shower is still draining slowly after physically removing all the hair you can get out with a hanger and plunger, pour a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a cup of vinegar after two minutes. In another 20 minutes, pour boiling water down the drain.

Try the hanger steps again if you’re still having drainage problems after pouring boiling water down the drain, and if all else fails, call a plumber. 

(Flickr Photo By godber)

How to prevent and fix a frozen drain

The winter months can be particularly hard on your home. If you live in a cold area, a frozen drain could be a pastime of yours. This will cause all sorts of plumbing problems. However, there are ways to prevent it, and if it does happen, there are many ways to fix it before the problem gets out of hand.

Start by insulating any pipes that are located on or near the exterior of your home. You can purchase wrap for your pies and install it easily. If you can’t get to all of the pipes, at least focus on insulating the main water pipes.

Signs your drain has frozen include drainage problems. Your sink or tub won’t drain, because the water inside the pipe has frozen.

First, check to make sure the pipe hasn’t cracked. Water expands when it freezes, which is why frozen pipes often burst. If the pipe hasn’t cracked, there is just a blockage. 

Next, turn off the water source that leads to that pipe. This might be the main water source. Continue by opening all of the faucets that lead to the frozen area. This will release any cool water that’s helping the blockage. 

The next step is to thaw the frozen area. Consider a few ways to do this, such as using a small blow dryer to direct warm air onto the frozen spot, wrapping the pipe with warm towels, propping a space heater near the pipe for an hour, wrapping the pipe with electric heating tape, or if you don’t have plastic piping, running a blowtorch along the frozen area of the pipe. 

You can also pour boiling water down the frozen drain to melt the blockage by using a piece of rubber tube to reach the ice, and pouring hot water from a kettle down the tube. 

Hopefully you can prevent a frozen drain, but use these tips to solve the problem quickly.

(Flickr Photo By Jimmy_Joe)

Things That Should Never Be Flushed

With the creation of “flushable” kitty litter, which is said to be biodegradable, cat owners are flushing the gritty stuff down the toilet without a care. However, even flushable kitty litter isn’t meant for the toilet.

Typical litter is made from clay. Clay plus water makes cement, which will clog your pipes. Okay, so the litter you have isn’t made of clay; regardless, it’s meant to absorb liquid, and that’s no good for a plumbing system.

Another thing about kitty litter, it partners with kitty clumps, and those are not good for the environment. There is a parasite in the clumps that is harmful to marine life, and when flushed, it enters the water system.

Aside from cat litter, certain chemicals and products are labeled not to flush, making this decision easy. However, some items you might be tempted to flush, when they should go in the trashcan.

A few common flushed items include cigarette butts, tissues, sanitary napkins, hair, insects, cotton swabs, and diapers. All of these belong in the garbage, along with the kitty litter.

If you’re looking for ways to make your household go green, consider harmless cleaners, recycling cans and paper, or purchasing local as much as possible. Keep the kitty litter, and other household items, in the trash and out of the toilet. 

(Flickr Photo By Shelli Akers)