Are you aware of what not to flush down the toilet? Many people unknowingly flush items that can cause serious plumbing and environmental issues. In this blog article, we will discuss five items you should never flush down the toilet to keep your plumbing healthy and prevent environmental damage.
1. Cooking Oil, Fats, and Grease
Never flush cooking oil, grease, or fats down the toilet. When they cool, they can harden and stick to the inside of your pipes, causing clogs that can be expensive to fix. When fat hardens, it gets as hard, which can cause a big blockage in your pipes.
Also, they can coat the lines and make a greasy film, which can cause bad smells, slow drainage, and other problems. Let cooking oil and other greasy substances cool down and harden. Then, you should wipe them off or throw them away.
2. Dental Floss and Hair
Pipes and drains can clog up easily when hair and dental floss build up. Dental floss consists of Teflon or nylon. These materials don’t break down easily in water and can mix with other items in the sewer system to make big balls that can clog pumps and drains.
Hair can also stick to the inside of pipes, and it doesn’t break down. Over time, this mixture causes buildup and other major jams. Also, when you mix hair and dental floss, they can make a net-like effect that can catch other trash and burn out the motor of your septic system.
3. Paper Towels, Tissues, and Excessive Toilet Paper
Toilet paper can break down in water once flushed, but paper towels and tissues are difficult to degrade even in sewage water. Paper towels and tissues can soak up liquid and become too thick and bulky to easily go through your toilet’s pipes, which can cause a clog. Also, paper towels and tissues can cause ecological issues since they can cause sewage overflows.
You can also have similar clog issues if you use excessive amounts of toilet paper. Too much toilet paper can also cause a clog, especially if it is in a big wad that is hard to flush.
4. Wipes
Wipes cannot break down in the same way that toilet paper does. Wet wipes, baby wipes, and other “flushable” wipes cannot dissolve quickly in liquids. Even though they say “flushable” on the package, you should not put these wipes in the toilet because they can be harmful to the sewage treatment process.
When you flush these wipes down the toilet, they can clog the sewer lines. Sometimes these wipes can combine with greases in the toilet to form fatbergs, which are the worst cases of sewer clogs.
5. Bleach and Medications
Flushing bleach and medications down the toilet can have a disastrous impact on the environment. Bleach is acidic and can eat away at pipes, septic systems, and other parts of your home’s plumbing. Also, bleach can mix with other chemicals in your plumbing, which can result in toxic fumes that can leak into your home.
When you flush medicines down the toilet, they can contaminate the wastewater, which can end up in rivers and harm the environment. So you should throw away medications in a safe way by taking them to a place where you can return medications.
You should not let clogs and other plumbing issues ruin your home. Contact Arnold & Sons Plumbing, Sewer and Drain Services today for reliable plumbing repairs and installation services in the Peoria, IL, area. Our experienced team of plumbers can help you and your family install, maintain, and repair your home’s plumbing system.
