Need Toilet Repair? Four Reasons Why Flushing Regular Wipes Will Clog Your Drains
Are you a fan of disposable wipes? Have you been flushing them down your toilet? If you have, then it's time to pause and to read this quick guide of four tips that literally could save your sewer system from having a breakdown.
When it comes to sewage, no one wants to deal with it -- and while a plumber can be your best friend in moments of crisis -- it's better to avoid having to face a sewage emergency altogether.
Flushing disposable wipes of any kind down your toilet will eventually cause a problem. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen, and when it does you're going to wish you had read this guide first. Read on to learn our four top tips for why flushing regular disposable wipes is a big no-no.
Tip #1: Breaking Down a Wipe
The first thing you have to understand about a disposable wipe is it's construction. It is made of durable cloth-like material that makes it great for cleaning heard surfaces or in situations in which you need to clean a baby. But whether they are made for countertop or baby's bottoms, disposable wipes that one thing in common, and that is their durability.
When you compare their construction to standard toilet paper, and then think about how that durability might stand up to a narrow and finicky sewage system, then you've reached illumination.
Standard, commercial disposable wipes were never made to be flushed down the toilet, and the problems they create in a sewage system is somewhat of a modern invention. For decades consumers flushed only toilet paper down their toilets, and drain clogs were mostly at a minimum.
City sewer systems have been around for decades, too and so they were not built to accommodate the new cleaning craze created by the invention of the disposable wipe. Wipes are just too sturdy to go down the drain. And so if you're going to use them, you should make sure you throw them into the trash can instead of the toilet bowl.
Tip #2: Flushable vs. Disposable
It's difficult to be a savvy consumer in this world of clever marketing. But it is really important to read the labels if you are going to invest in buying disposable wipes. Some name brand companies have come out with disposable wipes that are marketed as "flushable." These wipes are made with less durable materials but are still cloth-like. It's an interesting experiment these companies have launched.
However, from the plumber's perspective, you're still running a big risk anytime you flush anything other than toilet paper down your toilet. As you continue to read this guide, you'll learn more about why wipes are so sensitive to the sewage system and can easily clog it, but the bottom line is that even if you flush "flushable" wipes down the toilet, you likely will have a clog at some point.
Wipes were not made to avoid the nuances and particularities of decades-old sewage systems. Create a different plan if you want to use wipes, and save money by avoiding "flushable" wipes altogether.
Tip #3: A Fight without a Conclusion
One thing you'll learn as you investigate the disposal wipe story, is that public works officials in cities across the country and name brand companies are in a big fight over whether wipes are safe to flush down the toilet. Many cities have made ordinances against flushing wipes have seeing so many of them get lodged in pipe systems and ruin pumps, where they often get caught.
So even if the wipes you flush down your toilet make it through your pipes, they could create problems for your city as they travel the length to the wastewater management facility where you live. Many of us tend to think once we through something in the trash, it's gone. But the reality is, that trash ends up somewhere -- in a landfill -- where it creates problems for other people and not us. The same is true of disposable wipes. You may flush them and they're gone.
But you could be creating big problems for your neighbors and your city. Data from wastewater management facilities across the country proves that indeed this is true, with these facilities having to spend more money on getting wipes out of their drains to maintain the health and functioning of these systems.
Tip #4: The Anatomy of a Sewer System
Think about how long the sewer system has been around. Those pipes and pumps are often decades old, and they were built back them to handle two things -- wastewater and toilet paper. When you add the modern invention of the disposable wipe, you are potentially creating a disaster simply because sewer systems were not built to accommodate these items.
It's hard to adapt -- even with wipes that are being engineered and marketed as "flushable" -- because no one sewer system is alike. The same is true of the drain system in your home. Your pipes may or may not accommodate wipes, but over time you run the risk of having them clog your drains and get snarled in your pump system.
This is especially a problem in a home with babies or children, where disposable wipes are used regularly. You'll never know what your drain system truly is like because it's buried, so it's better to keep it in top health by avoiding dropping wipes into the pipe system.
A drain cleaning is expensive and what could happen before that is even more nightmarish -- waking up to sewage in your home because baby wipes are clogging your pipes.
We're confident that we'll be able to unclog your drain -- but we want you to avoid having to face a sewage emergency altogether.
Need a good drain cleaning or toilet repair? For a plumber you can count on in your Greensboro, NC home, call The Plumbing Service Company at (336) 502-8540.