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5 Reasons to Call a Professional Plumber for Drain Cleaning

5 Reasons to Call a Professional Plumber for Drain Cleaning

So, you think something inside your drain obstructs the channel and would like to clear it out. But how are you going to do that? What is the best way to clean your drains? Should you do it yourself or hire a professional plumber?

Doing it yourself typically means using a chemical drain cleaner. But while this is a quick method to get water flowing through the drains again, there are good reasons why it is not a good option, warns Rent Appeal, especially if you consider the long-term impact of this solution.

Most homeowners use chemical drain cleaners because they think they save time and money. But the sad truth is that chemical drain cleaners do not save you money. Using them in your drains will cost you more money in the future.

How is that?

Why you should never use chemical drain cleaners

Chemical drain cleaners contain corrosives, principally sulfuric acid and caustic soda.  These chemicals are so corrosive that after about five seconds of being inside your drains, they will not only start to eat away at the debris inside the pipes but also corrode them.

But the damage to your plumbing is not immediately evident when you use a chemical drain cleaner. That’s because drain cleaners thin out the pipes, making your plumbing fragile, more susceptible to leaks, and exposing your home to a greater risk of water damage.

The other reason not to use chemical drain cleaners is for personal safety. When using drain cleaners, you must wear rubber gloves and protective goggles. Additionally, you must pour the chemical very slowly because if it splashes on your skin, it will cause burns.

However, even if you succeed in pouring a drain cleaner into your drain without getting it on your skin or your eyes, drain cleaners sit inside your drain pipes for a long time. If the drain cleaner inside the pipe mixes with other cleaners, it can release deadly gases into your home.

So, if drain cleaners are harmful, what is the alternative?

You can buy a hand auger or plunger for nearly the same amount you pay for a chemical drain cleaner. These effectively remove clogs near the drain opening and can be used repeatedly. There are also lots of natural drain cleaning methods you can use.

But these methods do not address the root cause of the clogs in your drains. They only work as short-term fixes. The best long-term solution for keeping your drains in good condition is to hire a professional plumber. Why should you take this option?

Benefits of hiring a professional plumber

Solve problems effectively

Unlike when homeowners try to solve issues in their plumbing, a professional plumber does not just focus on the symptoms of the problem. A professional plumber will find the root cause of the problem by way of a sewer camera inspection service.

Also, unlike chemical drain cleaners, which do not distinguish between the debris inside the pipes and the PVC, metal, or enamel of your plumbing, the professional plumber can pinpoint the cause of the problem and solve it effectively.

They can educate you

Most blockages inside your drains are caused by the improper use of the drains, such as when you flush fats, oils, and grease (FOGs) into the drain or misuse of the garbage disposal. 

A professional plumber can prevent future problems by identifying behaviors contributing to your plumbing issues. They can give you advice that will help you avoid future problems and save costs.

Detect problems early

Most plumbing problems start as minor issues with early warning signs of the impending catastrophe. Blockages happen when those initial signs are overlooked. A professional plumber can save you money by catching problems at the beginning stages and solving them before they become significant costs; instead of compounding your plumbing issues, as chemical drain cleaners would, professional plumbers help you avoid problems.

Routine maintenance

A local plumber can help you do routine maintenance of your plumbing. Rather than wait for problems to happen before you pay attention to your drains, regular maintenance of the system will prevent issues. 

For instance, a camera inspection of your drains does not cost much, but this simple step will save you the thousands of dollars you would have spent to fix damage caused by a sewer backup.

Professional advice

A professional plumber will help you keep your plumbing up to date. From information about new regulations to innovative plumbing products that have just entered the market, your plumber is more in touch with the industry. 

They can ensure that instead of merely spending money to keep the system running, you can invest your money to improve your plumbing system. A professional plumber can help you build a resilient system with fewer problems and lower costs.

To sum up, why should you call a plumber for drain cleaning services? The straightforward answer is that only a professional plumber can clear the debris inside your drains by way of sewer rodding or high-powered hydro jetting service. Chemical drain cleaners and other methods will not do it.

Why You Should Always Use Professional Drain Cleaning Services

Why You Should Always Use Professional Drain Cleaning ServicesWhen a drain in your home gets clogged and needs cleaning, what should you do about it?

Clogged drains are an all too common problem in the home. Drains may get clogged or even blocked as a result of neglect and misuse; when your property is a rental this is almost always a tenant-caused malfunction. The problem could also be the outcome of aging pipes or the normal consequence of the proper use of the home’s plumbing.

Man-made causes of drain clogs include:

  • Human or pet hair getting into the drain because there is no hair trap in the shower.
  • Indiscriminately feeding food waste down the kitchen sink drain and into the garbage disposal.
  •  Flushing non-flushable items such as diapers, tampons, etc. – down the toilet.
  • Toilet paper buildup inside the drain, objects falling into the drain, and washing dirt down the drain, among others.

Drains may also get clogged from natural causes and in the course of the normal process of using the home’s plumbing. Some ways this can happen are:

  • Mineral buildup inside the pipes due to hard water from the municipal supply.
  • Tree roots that penetrate through the pipes and block them.
  • Subtle soil movements that dislocate the pipes and prevent the smooth flow of wastewater.
  • The age of the components of the plumbing system.

How to Handle a Clogged Drain

plumber-near-me

When your drains get clogged, what is the best way to deal with the issue? You have two options for solving the problem. You can head over to the internet and attempt to clean the drain yourself after watching some YouTube videos. Or you can get a professional plumber to look at the problem. The option you choose matters.

While there are lots of home maintenance tasks you can undertake yourself, plumbing is, unfortunately, not one of them. This is because of the vital role and enormous size of a home’s plumbing network. It is also because of how complex and interconnected this system is. The best way to clean out your drains when you have a clog or for routine maintenance is to hire a professional plumber.

Here are the reasons for this recommendation.

Benefits of Hiring a Professional Plumber for Drain Cleaning

Drain cleaning should be part of your maintenance routine

Drains will clog and need cleaning, no matter how carefully you use them. This is simply because drains carry wastewater and wastewater contain sediments. Every time you wash your hands with soap, you wash soap into the drain that can potentially turn into soap scum and block the pipes. 

The same applies to food scraps and grease; they will always find a way to get into the drain. Regular cleaning of your drains should be a permanent feature of your program for keeping the plumbing in good condition and avoiding costly repairs. Only a professional plumber can help you do this efficiently.

DIYs deal with the superficial causes

kitchen-drain-cleaning

Understanding the cause of a drain clog, the process of its formation, and the different things that play a part in creating the clog is essential for solving the problem.  Before they try to clean out a clogged drain, professional plumbers search for the immediate and remote causes of the problem. They do not apply temporary fixes as DIYers often do. 

Professional plumbers use tools and services such as a sewer camera inspections to pinpoint the cause of a problem and hire services such as hydro jetting that are comprehensive and long- lasting. A non-professional, on the other hand, is only concerned about getting water to start flowing through the drain again.

Avoid bigger problems

Houseowners who try a do-it-yourself fix to resolve plumbing issues are usually doing it to be cost-effective. By trying to save a dollar, they create bigger problems that cost them more money later on. As an example, houseowners may use over-the-counter drain cleaners to clear clogs. These chemicals do clear drain clogs, but only because they are so harsh. The long-term effect of disposing of these chemicals down the drain is that they strip the pipes and render them weak to become damaged easily.

A patchwork maintenance schedule that will not take the whole drainage system into account will be your downfall. Professional plumbers don’t merely unclog drains; they log the issue with your plumbing in a way that allows them to see a pattern with the issues with the home’s drainage system.

Professional plumbers save you money and time

Solving drainage problems takes a lot of expertise. For owners who want to do it by themselves, the only way to try and get that expertise is to spend hours on the internet. But watching a YouTube video on hydro jetting does not transform an amateur plumber into a professional. Eventually, the homeowner will have to hire a professional plumber to look at the issues with the home’s drainage. 

More often than not, the plumber has to solve both the original problem and the additional ones caused by the homeowner. If the owner had called a professional from the get-go, they would have saved themselves a lot of time and money.