November 19, 2023 • 5 mins
"So keep greases away from the sink."
- Bobby Crowder, Plumbing Expert
It can be annoying to hear our toilets constantly run. Plumbing expert, Bobby Crowder, The Family Plumber joins Jim Klauck - aka Check A Pro Joe on the show today.
The question today - "What Cause My Drain To Clog?"
Check out this episode of The Plumber Podcast to find out more...
For more information about The Family Plumber in Surprise, Arizona log on to www.callthefamilyplumber.com or check them out at www.checkapro.com.
Visit Us At - CallTheFamilyPlumber.com
You Can Call Anytime: (623) 738-6171
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
My plumbing expert,
Bobby Crowder of the family plumbers is joining me here on the program today and questions come up all the time here on the radio program,
once crossed my desk today,
this is a pretty common question.
What causes the drain clog and why does it continue to happen?
Hey,
Bobby,
how are you doing,
Bob?
Hey,
Joe.
(00:21):
Yeah,
it's great to have you here.
You get this question all the time.
This is a daily thing for you guys at the family plumber.
Uh,
clogged drains.
Why is this happening?
Well,
there's a lot that could be happening.
Um,
depends on where it's coming from,
you know,
your toilet,
your,
your kitchen sink,
uh your bathtub,
(00:43):
your shower,
your bathroom sink.
I mean the most,
I'd say the most common ones are,
well,
I wouldn't say the most common ones.
I think we're all about equal on a lot of those drains.
Um Bathroom sink is usually uh you know,
toothpaste,
even hair,
I mean lots of hair,
(01:03):
um always shavings.
Yeah,
shaving,
you know,
hair shavings,
you know,
people like to,
of course us men like to shave in the in the bathroom sink.
So a lot of shavings down there.
I recommend for something like that,
you know,
for like the,
for the bathroom sink is,
uh,
fill,
you,
fill your sink with hot water on them,
you know,
every month,
couple months,
three months or so and dump it.
(01:25):
It'll kind of loosen everything up there and put some pressure behind it and dump it through.
Um,
so there's really no way to uh stop that from happening because,
you know,
people brush their teeth obviously and shave and stuff like that.
So,
you know,
that's gonna happen.
So that's has to be maintained no matter what,
(01:45):
uh,
showers and tubs,
same thing you've got hair,
you know,
hair is a big,
is a big problem.
There's no way around that.
You're not just gonna keep your hair in your hand.
It,
it falls out a little bit here and then put it to the side.
It's just gonna go down the drain naturally.
Um,
the ones you can prevent as anything from the toilets to the kitchen sinks.
So,
(02:06):
you know,
like we've discussed this plenty of times.
Just human waste down the toilet and a good toilet paper,
no wipe,
stuff like that.
So,
uh there is a one wipe,
like said we discussed this in another podcast,
but that's,
that's,
that's another way you can go check out.
But,
um,
kitchen sink also,
let's keep things just keep things minimal,
(02:28):
you know.
Um,
I like people that don't have garbage disposals.
You know,
this way they're not putting a bunch of stuff down,
you know,
down their drain.
They're actually going to the garbage can and dumping it out,
you know,
dumping it there.
So keep greases,
uh,
away from the sink.
Um,
anything that's oil and greasy,
let's,
uh,
let's put it in a jar,
(02:49):
seal it up and throw it away,
you know,
the way it should be done.
Um,
but other than that,
that's,
that's,
those are the main causes of all your drains in your house that you can prevent or maintain.
Put it that way,
you know,
something that can happen and it's not obvious,
(03:10):
but it can happen is you may have a drainage issue,
but it's not necessarily clogged if the vent pipe for whatever reason is full of an obstruction,
let's say a squirrel moved in seriously a rat rat.
(03:30):
This,
right.
Or if just so happens,
someone hits a tennis ball and it just happens to sit on top of that vent.
Right.
It just,
it would sit right there like a golf ball on a tee.
If that were the case,
you'd have some issues in most cases of draining,
wouldn't you?
Yeah,
of course.
Yeah.
Like I said,
I've seen,
we don't have much squirrels out here in Arizona,
(03:51):
but,
uh,
we do in the upper area but,
uh,
birds and pigeons,
I've seen them just resting and they,
you like to sit,
like,
right on top of that you know,
um,
and that when you have a vent that's clogged.
It,
it does,
it does prevent the drain from flowing naturally,
(04:12):
like a proper flow.
Because in order for water to flow through the drain,
it has to breathe.
It has to have,
you know,
has to have air to have.
Yes.
Yeah.
So,
and if you don't have that it'll gurgle,
clog,
you know,
gurgle and stop or just drain super slow.
I've,
I've seen toilets where people thought they had a,
(04:33):
they had a toilet that wasn't,
that was clogged.
I get there and I kid you not,
it had a perfect seal around the toilet tank lid.
So when I flushed,
I lifted that toilet tank lid up and it,
it flowed just perfectly,
you know,
filling up and everything.
So it had like a nice suction in that tank that prevented that water from really going down and flushing that,
(04:56):
that to bowl.
So that was,
that was,
that was the first for me,
for me.
That was actually about five years ago.
So that was,
that was a little strange.
Well,
sure,
if,
if you,
I mean,
you know,
if you take a container that's totally sealed and you don't allow air in for the liquid to come out,
the liquid may not even come out,
it may just sit there or it's gonna come out slowly.
(05:18):
And that's why it's important to have air come into anything.
If you want the liquid to be moving out.
Exactly.
I always tell people the thumb over the straw technique,
but thumb of the straw put over and of course,
it's not gonna flow until you actually let go.
It needs that needs that air to breathe,
to flow.
Exactly.
Bobby,
once again,
(05:39):
you're solving our problems.
I appreciate it.
My best.
Thanks,
Joe.
Appreciate it.
Yeah,
thank you so much.
All of Bobby's information is located in the description of this podcast.
It's a quick click away his website.
Just do that if you have any plumbing needs.
It is Bobby Crowder,
the family plumber.
My plumbing expert,
Bobby Crowder of the family plumbers is joining me here on the program today and questions come up all the time here on the radio program,
once crossed my desk today,
this is a pretty common question.
What causes the drain clog and why does it continue to happen?
Hey,
Bobby,
how are you doing,
Bob?
Hey,
Joe.
(00:21):
Yeah,
it's great to have you here.
You get this question all the time.
This is a daily thing for you guys at the family plumber.
Uh,
clogged drains.
Why is this happening?
Well,
there's a lot that could be happening.
Um,
depends on where it's coming from,
you know,
your toilet,
your,
your kitchen sink,
uh your bathtub,
(00:43):
your shower,
your bathroom sink.
I mean the most,
I'd say the most common ones are,
well,
I wouldn't say the most common ones.
I think we're all about equal on a lot of those drains.
Um Bathroom sink is usually uh you know,
toothpaste,
even hair,
I mean lots of hair,
(01:03):
um always shavings.
Yeah,
shaving,
you know,
hair shavings,
you know,
people like to,
of course us men like to shave in the in the bathroom sink.
So a lot of shavings down there.
I recommend for something like that,
you know,
for like the,
for the bathroom sink is,
uh,
fill,
you,
fill your sink with hot water on them,
you know,
every month,
couple months,
three months or so and dump it.
(01:25):
It'll kind of loosen everything up there and put some pressure behind it and dump it through.
Um,
so there's really no way to uh stop that from happening because,
you know,
people brush their teeth obviously and shave and stuff like that.
So,
you know,
that's gonna happen.
So that's has to be maintained no matter what,
(01:45):
uh,
showers and tubs,
same thing you've got hair,
you know,
hair is a big,
is a big problem.
There's no way around that.
You're not just gonna keep your hair in your hand.
It,
it falls out a little bit here and then put it to the side.
It's just gonna go down the drain naturally.
Um,
the ones you can prevent as anything from the toilets to the kitchen sinks.
So,
(02:06):
you know,
like we've discussed this plenty of times.
Just human waste down the toilet and a good toilet paper,
no wipe,
stuff like that.
So,
uh there is a one wipe,
like said we discussed this in another podcast,
but that's,
that's,
that's another way you can go check out.
But,
um,
kitchen sink also,
let's keep things just keep things minimal,
(02:28):
you know.
Um,
I like people that don't have garbage disposals.
You know,
this way they're not putting a bunch of stuff down,
you know,
down their drain.
They're actually going to the garbage can and dumping it out,
you know,
dumping it there.
So keep greases,
uh,
away from the sink.
Um,
anything that's oil and greasy,
let's,
uh,
let's put it in a jar,
(02:49):
seal it up and throw it away,
you know,
the way it should be done.
Um,
but other than that,
that's,
that's,
those are the main causes of all your drains in your house that you can prevent or maintain.
Put it that way,
you know,
something that can happen and it's not obvious,
(03:10):
but it can happen is you may have a drainage issue,
but it's not necessarily clogged if the vent pipe for whatever reason is full of an obstruction,
let's say a squirrel moved in seriously a rat rat.
(03:30):
This,
right.
Or if just so happens,
someone hits a tennis ball and it just happens to sit on top of that vent.
Right.
It just,
it would sit right there like a golf ball on a tee.
If that were the case,
you'd have some issues in most cases of draining,
wouldn't you?
Yeah,
of course.
Yeah.
Like I said,
I've seen,
we don't have much squirrels out here in Arizona,
(03:51):
but,
uh,
we do in the upper area but,
uh,
birds and pigeons,
I've seen them just resting and they,
you like to sit,
like,
right on top of that you know,
um,
and that when you have a vent that's clogged.
It,
it does,
it does prevent the drain from flowing naturally,
(04:12):
like a proper flow.
Because in order for water to flow through the drain,
it has to breathe.
It has to have,
you know,
has to have air to have.
Yes.
Yeah.
So,
and if you don't have that it'll gurgle,
clog,
you know,
gurgle and stop or just drain super slow.
I've,
I've seen toilets where people thought they had a,
(04:33):
they had a toilet that wasn't,
that was clogged.
I get there and I kid you not,
it had a perfect seal around the toilet tank lid.
So when I flushed,
I lifted that toilet tank lid up and it,
it flowed just perfectly,
you know,
filling up and everything.
So it had like a nice suction in that tank that prevented that water from really going down and flushing that,
(04:56):
that to bowl.
So that was,
that was,
that was the first for me,
for me.
That was actually about five years ago.
So that was,
that was a little strange.
Well,
sure,
if,
if you,
I mean,
you know,
if you take a container that's totally sealed and you don't allow air in for the liquid to come out,
the liquid may not even come out,
it may just sit there or it's gonna come out slowly.
(05:18):
And that's why it's important to have air come into anything.
If you want the liquid to be moving out.
Exactly.
I always tell people the thumb over the straw technique,
but thumb of the straw put over and of course,
it's not gonna flow until you actually let go.
It needs that needs that air to breathe,
to flow.
Exactly.
Bobby,
once again,
(05:39):
you're solving our problems.
I appreciate it.
My best.
Thanks,
Joe.
Appreciate it.
Yeah,
thank you so much.
All of Bobby's information is located in the description of this podcast.
It's a quick click away his website.
Just do that if you have any plumbing needs.
It is Bobby Crowder,
the family plumber.
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