4 Tips To Prevent A Plumbing Catastrophe During The COVID-19 Pandemic
Emergencies happen. This is as true with your home's plumbing as it is with any other situation or system. While you should always take good care of your plumbing to reduce your risk of emergencies, this is more important than ever before during the COVID–19 outbreak. While most plumbers are still working — at least to provide emergency services — you want to reduce your chances of having to call a plumber at this time. Here are some tips you can follow to reduce your risk of a plumbing catastrophe or emergency during the pandemic.
1. Don't flush anything other than toilet paper
The toilet paper shortages have left some people no choice but to use facial tissue or paper towels to wipe. If this is the situation you're in, then make sure you're disposing of these items in the trash rather than flushing them. They are not designed to be flushed and can easily get caught in your pipes, leading to a toilet overflow.
2. Be careful what you put down the garbage disposal
The outbreak has everyone at home and cooking more, which is a good thing for many reasons. Just make sure that as you're creating your from-scratch meals, you're not putting anything harmful down the garbage disposal. Celery stalks, egg shells, dry pasta, and rice can all jam up the garbage disposal and clog your drain.
3. Stay away from chemical drain cleaners
Chemical drain cleaners are a bad choice for a few reasons. First, if the drain cleaner does not work, it will be left sitting in your sink or drain until the plumber can come out, which might be a few days during the pandemic. In this time, your kids or pets may encounter it and burn themselves. Second, drain cleaners can cause damage to the drain pipes themselves, and you don't want to make matters worse by causing a leak in your drain pipe right now. Use a plunger to remove minor clogs instead. It takes more elbow grease, but it's a lot safer.
4. Be careful with your landscaping
It's a nice time to clean up the yard and enhance your landscaping while you're stuck at home, but make sure your efforts don't cause any damage to your plumbing. Do not dig over your sewer lines; you may puncture them if they are older. Also, don't plant anything other than grass near the septic tank; you could inhibit drainage.
With the tips above, you can reduce your risk of plumbing trouble during this outbreak. If you do have an emergency, by all means, call a plumber — but take a preventative approach first. For more information, contact a residential plumbing contractor.
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