Blocked drains can be very unpleasant to deal with. However, there are simple steps you can take to avoid blockages in your home.
There are a few different reasons why blockages occur, but they’re most often caused by items such as wet wipes and sanitary products that are flushed down the toilet, or by leftover cooking fats and oils poured down the kitchen sink. These items stick together and over time they build up and block pipes and drains.
Follow these top tips to help keep your drains flowing free and easy.
Top tips for the kitchen
We have some simple ways you can prevent blockages to keep your pipes clear and wastewater flowing freely.
- Scrape pots, pans and plates before washing up
- Use a strainer in your kitchen sink
- Use kitchen roll to wipe grease from your pans, plates and air fryers.
- Collect used oil in a container and throw it in the bin
Top tips for the bathroom
Changing some of your bathroom habits, will help keep your toilet in tip tap shape and your shower’s stress free:
- Only ever flush the 3P’s: pee, poo and (toilet) paper
- Bag sanitary towels, tampons and colostomy bags then bin them
- Bin wipes to avoid blocked drains, even the ones that are labelled “flushable”.
- Use a bin for nappies, razors, cotton buds and dental floss
Please note: Never get rid of paint or medicine by pouring them down the drain or flushing them down the loo. Medicine can be taken to a pharmacy for safe disposal. Items like paint can be taken to a hazardous waste disposal centre. The nearest waste disposal centre for Cheltenham is Wingmoor Farm household recycling centre, half mile west of Bishops Cleeve on the road to Stoke Orchard, Bishops Cleeve, Nr Cheltenham, GL52 7RS.
Important things to watch out for
Flushing un-flushable items down the toilet or pouring the wrong thing down the sink causes blockages which are messy, unpleasant and can cause sewage to flow back inside your home. It can be upsetting for you and your loved ones and it’s also costly to fix. Here are some important watchouts.
Wet wipes
Wet wipes, baby wipes, cleaning wipes, make up wipes, toilet wipes – they’re all handy!
We use them around our house to clean surfaces, to wipe sticky faces and hands and keep babies bottoms clean and fresh – but not all wet wipes break down or dissolve like toilet paper when flushed, even if they are labelled as flushable.
Bag and bin un-flushable wipes
Only wet wipes with the 'Fine 2 Flush' mark on their packaging can be safely flushed down the loo. No sign of the symbol? Then don’t flush them – bin them.
These have been tested to confirm they don’t contain plastic, classing them as moist toilet tissues that will break down in the sewer system.
Ever heard of a fatberg?
All the food waste, leftover cooking oil and fat congeals with flushed sanitary products, wipes and other items to form a solid mass known as a fatberg.
Each time more un-flushable items enter the sewer, they stick to the fatberg and the blockage grows.
Fatbergs prevent your wastewater flowing though the sewer. It has nowhere to go and if left like this, dirty water can end up flooding your home and the homes of your neighbours. This is also harmful to the local environment.