Do you have repeated visits from a Plumber to unclog your toilet? Some preventive measures will help! Here’s a list of 11 things you should *never* flush down your toilet! They all belong in your trash or elsewhere.
- Baby Wipes – the number one offender our drain cleaners pull out of toilets are wipes of all kinds – including “flushable” wipes. Sometimes they will pull out a whole wad of wipes. Sorry, but they all belong in the trash. Your toilet will be happier.
- Diapers – If you’ve got a bundle of joy at home, it may be tempting to flush used diapers. Big no-no. It’s more work to put them in the trash, and make sure you don’t smell up your house, but diapers are almost sure to clog your toilet.
- Feminine Products – Related items are tampons, panty liners, and other types of feminine products. Same kind of material as diapers, and especially if you’ve got a low-flush toilet, it may clog up over time. Wrap in toilet tissue and discard in the trash.
- Prescription and OTC Drugs – the conventional wisdom used to be to flush expired medicines. The problem here is that the medicines will all end up in the sewage treatment plant – and can’t be taken out of the ground water completely.
- Dental floss can unravel and may act like stuffing string down your toilet.
- Cat Litter – You may think it’s the same material as our own waste, but cat litter also contains heavy particles like clay. It may seem to go down, only to cause problems later.
- Paper Towels, Cotton Balls, Q-Tips – Like diapers and feminine products, they are just too dense and don’t break down easily enough to really go down.
- Cell Phones, Jewelry, Toilet Articles – If you use the toilet tank to store items, sooner or later they’ll end up in your toilet. Cell phones especially don’t like to be submerged and certainly won’t go down. Some toilet tanks are rounded and seem to encourage items to end up in the toilet.
- Drain Cleaner Chemicals – These products are harsh chemicals that will eat away the lovely porcelain finish of your toilet. If you’ve got a clog, get a professional to snake out your toilet. We can pull and reset the toilet if need be.
- Toys – Children love to try out the toilet with all kinds of things. We’ve seen Legos, stuffed toys, building blocks, and dolls. Some kids just want to see if their favorite toys will float.
- Cooking Grease, Food – Grease is a problem for your kitchen drain as well. Don’t put it in the toilet, it will find other items to attach to and cause clogs. Find a way to safely dispose of grease with your trash. Same for unwanted food items – some can go in the garbage disposal, others must be trashed.
We hope these tips help you! Call Reed’s to come solve all your plumbing problems, day or night!