Red Rock Mechanical, LLC Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Drain Cleaning’

Is There a Way to Avoid All Drain Clogs?

Monday, October 15th, 2018

tapwater-flowing-down-drainWe’re sorry to bring you the bad news, but drain clogs are problems that will affect homes at some point. There is no way to prevent every single possible source of clogs. For example, you may end up with clogged drains because of sewer line issues coming from the municipal system. There’s nothing you can do to stop that ahead of time! And sometimes accidents occur and an object gets tipped over into a drain, leading to stoppage.

Now that we’ve been a bit of a downer, we can tell you the good news. You can still prevent most drain clogs. There are many preventable reasons for clogging in drains, and if you know the steps to take, you can keep them away and your drains healthy. (And you can always reach us for help when problems arise. We have emergency services!)

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Museum of Weird Plumbing: Strange Things That Can Clog Your Drains

Monday, August 6th, 2018

oh-no-not-the-museum-of-weird-plumbing

When you think about calling for a plumber, what’s the first plumbing problem that pops to mind? We’d bet in seven cases out of ten you’d say “clogged drain.” Slow or clogged drains are among the most common and irritating of plumbing troubles. Every home runs into them at some point, and no matter how much care people take to prevent them, they can still crop up—and often for some pretty strange reasons.

The main culprits behind clogged drains are food waste, FOG (fats, oils, grease), soap scum, hair, and small objects from bathroom and kitchen counters that may go down the drains by accident. Plumbers know how to deal with each of these. But plumbers also know how to deal with some of the more unusual and uncanny reasons for clogged and slow drains. Step into our “Museum of Weird Plumbing” and meet some of the other villains that can stop up your sinks, showers, toilets, and tubs.

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Are Clogged Drains Out of Control in Your Home?

Monday, August 21st, 2017

bubbling-drainEverybody has run into a clogged drain at one time or another. They’re just “one of those things” when it comes to household inconveniences. Can’t get rid of them entirely—sometimes they just happen, and you have to deal with them using the tools you have available (a plunger, a hand-cranked drain snake, but not chemical cleaners) or else contact a plumber to take care of it.

But what if drain clogs aren’t an occasional aggravation in your home? What if they are a continual, bonafide out-of-control nuisance that has you gritting your teeth every day?

Well, you may something more serious going on than a clot of grease or a tangle of hair in your drain. And it will probably take the work of our professional plumbers to help you out.

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Warnings Those Clogged Drains May Be Sewer Line Problems

Monday, April 10th, 2017

water-down-drainNobody wants to encounter a slow or clogged drain in their home. It’s an annoyance and can bring simple tasks in the household to an indefinite halt until it can be remedied. Fortunately, clearing out a clog isn’t a tough job. If you can’t manage it using a basic drain plunger or with a hand-cranked drain snake (don’t use chemical cleaners, please!), you can always call our plumbers any time of the day or night and we’ll have the drain cleared out fast.

However, clogged and slow drains sometimes indicate a problem that runs deeper than blockage in a drain pipe. Your home’s sewer line might be suffering from breaks, obstructions due to tree root infiltration, or organic and inorganic build-up. These are more serious troubles than drain clogs, because they can lead to the full failure of your home’s drainage system and eventually sewage backing up into the basement or foundation.

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Spring Preparation: Your Plumbing

Monday, March 13th, 2017

Tools_tools_house-smA subject that we often bring up during the end of the winter and the beginning of spring is arranging for maintenance for your air conditioning system. This is a vital part of seeing that the AC is ready to handle another hot summer.

Your HVAC system isn’t the only part of your house that requires check-ups as spring begins. You might not realize how much stress your plumbing undergoes during the winter. Although your pipes, drains, and other parts of the plumbing don’t necessarily need professional inspections and maintenance each spring, it’s a wise idea to go through a few checks on your own to locate where there may be plumbing issues. This way you can schedule service in time to head off more serious problems.

Below are some of the most important checks to make for your plumbing in Burlington, VT as the first day of spring (Monday, March 20) closes in.

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Post-Holidays: A Good Time for Drain Cleaning!

Tuesday, December 27th, 2016

The holiday season is almost behind us. January is the month when we return to work and look ahead at the year and think of important chores that need to be done. January is a “clean-up and maintenance month.” One bit of house-cleaning that we recommend is drain cleaning.

You may not have thought about arranging for professional drain cleaning services before (no, pouring chemicals down the drains is not “drain cleaning”), but you’ll be impressed at what a difference it will make during the rest of the year.

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Bad Smells from the Drains… And How to Put a Stop to Them

Monday, July 25th, 2016

Unpleasant sewer-like odors aren’t something you ever want in your house. Unfortunately, this can occur if there are problems with the drains in your home or the sewer line that connects the drainpipes to the municipal sewer system.

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Why Am I Experiencing So Many Drain Clogs?

Monday, June 20th, 2016

Drain clogs… nobody likes them. But we’ve settled on them as something that will happen from time to time in our plumbing, and we simply need to know the right way to deal with them. This usually means a basic sink plunger, followed by a call to a professional plumber if it doesn’t work. (Don’t, and we repeat, don’t use chemical drain cleaners, which can harm both your drains and you!)

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How to Tell You Need Drain Cleaning

Monday, February 22nd, 2016

When one of the sinks in your home stops draining, you know you have a clog. If you can’t remove the clog with the use of a standard sink plunger, then contact a licensed plumber to take care of the drain cleaning that will completely clear out the sink without damaging the drainpipe.

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Why a Store-Bought Drain Snake Isn’t the Best Answer for Drain Cleaning

Monday, December 7th, 2015

You have a clog in one of your sinks, such as the main kitchen sink. This is obviously a serious problem, and you need it fixed right away. What should you do?

The first response is probably to reach for a sink plunger, if you have one. The second response may be to use chemical drain cleaners, but don’t do this. (These acidic chemicals are bad news for drains and everyone in your household.)

Another response is to use a hand-cranked drain auger, a “drain snake.” This is one of the better ways to get rid of a clog—but only as a temporary fix. A drain snake isn’t a form of draining cleaning, and if you want a tough clog not only removed, but the source of the clog removed as well, you need to call professional plumbers.

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