These Mistakes Could Ruin Your Plumbing

This image shows a stainless steel kitchen sink with water running and an eggshell resting near the drain, highlighting common food waste that can cause clogs if washed down.

To ensure the long life of your household plumbing system, you’ve got to treat it right. Our team of plumbers have put together some handy tips that will help you avoid common plumbing errors and mistakes.

And let’s be clear: certain mistakes can be disastrous for your plumbing. So don’t go there. Review our quick list of common, catastrophic plumbing errors—so you can avoid them at all costs!

What Not to Do to Your Plumbing

Flushing improper objects down the toilet.

And by improper objects we mean food, cigarettes, feminine products, diapers—basically anything other than human waste and toilet paper. A lot of people use their toilet as a trash can, but we cannot emphasize enough how damaging this can be. Flushing a foreign object can actually clog all the drains in your home!
Using the garburator improperly.

Here again, it’s vital to know what you can and cannot dispose of. Really, the garburator is for the tiniest bits of food and liquids—not for bones, shells, fruit peels, or anything that’s at all large. When in doubt, just scrape it into a plate, not into the garburator.
Pouring chemicals into your septic system.

If you have a septic system at your home, it’s important that you understand how septic maintenance works. The most important thing: You’ve got to be careful not to pour any kind of chemicals down the toilet, down the drain, or into the septic tank directly. Drain cleaners, paint, bleach, detergent—all of these can compromise the effectiveness of your septic tank.
Overdoing it with the drain cleaner.

Drain cleaning chemicals may seem like cheap solutions to common clogs, but they can actually have a corrosive effect on the plumbing—potentially causing much bigger problems down the road.
Using different metals in DIY plumbing projects.

Tackling a home plumbing job is admirable, but you’ve got to do it right—and that means realizing that, when you connect pipes of different metals—like steel and copper—it can actually have a corrosive effect. Try to be consistent with your materials, and contact a plumber if you need guidance.

Avoid these mistakes and hopefully you’ll avoid ever having to meet us. If, however, you do have any concerns, our friendly team of B.C. based plumbers are here to help.