From underwear and razors to oil and grease, published lists of what not to put down your drain paint a worrying picture of what people can and do dispose of every day.
Improper disposal of items can cause clogging and backups, and it’s not always a simple matter of a bit of hair blocking your shower drain. Sometimes the blockage needs some pretty heavy duty extraction, like in the case of large ‘fatbergs’.
Fatbergs, scourge of the sewers
Just what is a fatberg? Well, if you’re eating right now, you might want to stop reading.
A fatberg is a congealed lump of fat, and other items (sanitary items, wet wipes, and various debris not designed to break down like toilet paper). They can grow as large as 15 tonnes and can cause major problems for sewerage workers when they threaten to flood the streets with sewage.
BBC2’s programme, Watermen: A Dirty Business, is a series that follows those who run and work for one of Britain’s biggest water companies. The programme highlights the importance of drain cleaning in light of the increase in fatbergs.
As a landlord, drain cleaning plays an essential role in facilities maintenance. While the fatbergs are a major problem for sewer workers, even ordinary clogs can have a damaging effect on your property.
Prevention is the best solution
Preventing your property’s drains from becoming clogged in the first place is the easiest way to ensure they’re running smoothly. Too often, people disregard their drains until the problem becomes impossible to ignore. By this time, filthy water could be soaking into the walls and floors of your property, and the damage will already have occurred.
To avoid damage and emergency unblockings, you should practice regular drain maintenance. This might involve:
- Treating your pipes with organic drain cleaners
- Hiring a drain maintenance service for regular checkups
- Posting a list of items that must be disposed of via a bin, and reminding your tenants to check the list before putting anything down the drain
- If you experience a serious clog
Unblocking a drain can be a tricky affair. You can buy a few simple tools and attempt to unblock the drain with tips from our short guide, but if this doesn’t work, you’ll need to call the professionals.
Polyteck provide a cost-effective and complete planned preventative maintenance (PPM) drainage service as well as an emergency drain clearing service, with experienced plumbers using the latest equipment to clear your drain quickly. For more information, get in touch now!
You can call us on 020 7481 0222 or email us by using our online contact form here.
