Seven stupid things people do that ruin plumbing

im a plumber and you should do the opposite of what this guy says :o)

One more Note: I put my bacon grease in a mini cube ice cube tray and freeze it, then I move the cubes into a plastic bag (still in the freezer). That way I have fresh bacon grease for cooking (tasty). Don't leave the grease in the regular refrigerator since it will go rancid and Never on the counter.

My brother thought that putting egg shells and chicken bones down the garbage disposal was somehow a good way to get rid of them. It didn't take long before sewage was flowing out of his washing machine drain into the basement. An $800 bill from the drain cleaning company fixed the problem.

most of you people are truly idiots, there is more to being a plumber than unclogging drains, half the time the hacks that come to your house to unclog your drains aren't even licensed plumbers. As a homeowner if you can't figure out how to take apart your traps and run a rod down your drains maybe you should take it up the rear when you call rotor rooter. Not all plumbers are service plumbers, there are building trades plumber like myself who do commercial and industrial plumbing and pipefitting.

Save your coffee cans and put grease in there. When full toss in trash. Put your veggie peels in a different coffee can and toss into garden or flower bed dirt then rinse and reuse can.

If you must put fatty substances down the drains in your home, running maximum hot (or boiling) water in quantity afterward can push the fatty substances out of your domestic pipes more easily. Soap residue or bacon fat, greasy substances gel in cold water.

I had to call a plumber for the first time ever due to a pipe freezing last winter (and I have survived a LOT of winters without it ever happening), and the charge was $95 an hour, straight time! Who knows what it would have been on over time! And, I had to wait about a week to get him due to hundreds of frozen pipes in the area---was an especially couple of cold nites down below 10 degrees and never getting above 25 for the daytime highs...was happy to see THAT weather go away LOL
But those looking for jobs, here you go, probably more per hour than a doctor makes! And I live in a small town outside Seattle.

just do not flush

isn't all soap anti bacterial? i mean ur not washing ur hands with bacterial soap.

so what exactly am i supposed to do with the grease if i don't pour it down the kitchen sink?

I am a licensed plumber and as far a drain cleaners go, there was one on the market several years ago named Magic Jack. It worked great on every clog I used it on. You could get it on your skin and it didn't burn. It worked so good that the company that makes Liquid Plumber bought them out and took it off of the market.

I've read a lot of comments about stuff you're not supposed to put down the disposal. What CAN you put sown there? Anything? What the hell's it for?

"If it goes in your stomache it can go in a toilet. If you should not eat it you should not flush it. It is a simple rule that keeps my toilet working. And I believe drano was invented by a plumber to create more work. I have seen more harm done with that then good." -- Melissa.
I don't want to be crass, but what do you wipe with, lettuce? By the way, you have teeth (I trust); your toilet does not.

coffee grounds settle into the curved section of the plumbing, hoses attached to outdoor faucets don't let all the water drain from the pipe thouroughly so it freezes in cold weather, then causes a split in the pipe which you won't notice till warm weather and a nice leak behind the wall. Soap clings to plumbing walls and creates a build up over time, narrowing the pipes draining capability. Private sewage system is a polite way of putting -septic system. I am a dumb blonde woman and I know this - maybe some of you should study up on some do it yourself skills.

Kevin, where did you learn plumbing? Drain Cleaner is not an acid. It is usually some sort of sodium hydroxide that has been combined with another chemical to keep the drug cookers from using it in their trade.

We moved into a house where the previous renters flushed Dental Floss..OMG. 125$ of Rotor Rooter and gallons of poopy water in my basement later, the clog was finally gone. Dental floss is like fishing line. NOT biodegradable!

well,, I read ALL the comments, including the ones from plumbers, (UNION YES!). I'm a retired union plumber-pipe fittter
but no one has spoken to the FORM of drains. The DESIGNED (by master Union plumbers in new construction as shown on the blueprints(maps we call em) from os the sanitary sewage systems.

It is this simple:(as i was taught in '65).
the SANITARY sewer service line is "4, -all the way to the street,(with "fall" 1/4 inch p/foot of sewage line), as planned, ALL the sewage lines in the SYSTEM are "4(inches), from yr toilet to the street, and i have to shout here; A FOUR GALLON FLUSH WILL SELF SCOUR A four inch line, it is DESIGNED THIS WAY, by master plumbers to last forever and be self maintaining.
DUH.
urinals has 1.5 in drain lines SO they are set up designed to have a 1.5 second or more flush to self scour their sewage lines, as they head on to the flour inch drain lines( stacks, and the 'fall' needed to send via gravity to the street sewage lines).

THE ENTIRE system is designed (by master plumbers) to be SELF maintaining, and not needing any service for at least 50 years, with cast iron 4 inch lines AND four GALLON flush.
some large cities STILL have wood lines! think Sacramento, Indianapolis, and of course the raw sewage comes right up on the streets and into the stores, offices. CHEAPING out will defeat the entire system(s).

Now, the system problems are made worse IF you have put a brick in the toilet tank as IT reduces the volume of water you flush with, ( to save eco water(HAHA), then of course the sewage line never gets SELF scoured, and you have to call us to clean the drains, think yr saving the planet, or saving water or $$ by the brick?
yr NOT-yr being robbed via a "eco' costly fable-saving water.

I see a brick in the tank, I KNOW it is not self scouring the lines, and you LOSE all the $$ " saved" on using less water. we have to come back and back...

This next comment get me in trouble with my plumbing Union leaders, Jimmy Carter in a "payback" for our votes, and a nod to the NON scientific "eco solutions" did the worst thing to the existing and new sewage lines...HE made it Federal LAW to make all toilets : LOW flow water and they no longer self scour the lines, and you have to call the plumber to physically scour out the lines.
In fact you can NOT buy an old toilet that has the needed 4 gallon flush,(it is a crime to sell em) SO it is 'built in work" for plumbers forever, a low flush toilet, would work on a DECREASED size drain pipes BUT no one rips up the sewage 4" drain lines and replaces them for the new (demanded) smaller size sewage lines to the street- so the low flow in a smaller flush will NEVER self scour, and you will always need a plumber to clean it out, it is ONLY a matter of time.

what can be done? flush twice, THEN you might have enough water to self scour the lines( as ALL plumbing sewage lines are designed to do)>
Water and boiling water, are the ONLY thing to put down the lines, all else is a service call 'extra'.

When i worked, a service call that had bricks in the tank OR drain cleaners in the pipes was an INSTANT extra charge, putting bleach or 'cleaners' down the line can explode on ya, you pay extra for the danger you put the plumber through.

JUST use water and a lot of it, as much as possible, the built in job creation (via fed mandates for low flushing toilets) via carter, and his political payback has defeated the entire PLANNED sanitary sewage system.
I'd go on to explain what a dielectric coupling is for water service lines(costs a LITTLE more) to avoid replacing the copper lines( designed to last 60 years) but those who are using NON union workers, and building the cheapest way, slamming these homes on the market, yr new copper lines will become clogged and you have to replace the entire service lines w/in 10 years- but they 'saved costs' by not putting in dialectical couplings where water service lines switch metals...galvanized steel to copper, or to brass to copper, but thas too much for many here to understand.

I'd speak too the constant supply of prescription drugs and HORMONES sent to yr. water faucets via the fed mandated water "treatment" plants, and WHAT that creates, like the fish of D.C. having multi sex organs, or 95% of MALE fish and frogs having female sex organs growing..but then you dismiss me as a 'looney" so i will not...

just flush and USE more water on the all the "low flush" toilet systems, and you should be fine and safe. I'm wishing i saw this artical before i commented so late on this topic.

Woah folks...ask first or pay me later.

Bunny.. 'private sewage system' normally is a large in ground tank with a piping distribution system to have the ground absorb the overflow of water.
If you have never had to call for a firm to pump out your septic tank, chance are you are hooked up to a common city system.

Never pour coffee grounds down the drain! They have oils in them, not to mention all those grounds clinging to whatever's in there....

Vinegar and very hot water are good for drain cleaning.