How Often Should You Have Your Home’s Drains Cleaned?

  1. Kitchen sink

How often should you have your drains cleaned? Knowing the answer to this important plumbing question can make all the difference in sparing you from some household disasters. The home plumbing professionals of Mission Mechanical explain when to schedule drain cleaning services and what is done during this appointment to keep your home’s drains healthy.

How Often Should You Have Your Drains Cleaned?

Anytime you notice drainage issues anywhere in your home, you should have your drains cleaned right away. Immediate drain cleaning will clear up the root cause of slow drainage, a blocked drain, or a backed up drain and keep drains flowing properly. If you do not have your drains cleaned at the first sign of trouble, the problem may worsen, causing what was once a slow drain to suffer a total blockage, or even causing drain pipes to sustain damage.

As far as maintenance goes, how often should you have your drains cleaned? When there are no signs of drainage issues and it’s simply a preventative measure, most experts recommend you have your home’s drains cleaned every 18 months to 2 years. Routine drain cleaning every 2 years or so will eliminate buildup that has accumulated in your drain lines, reducing the risk of a future clog or damage to these pipes. Despite best efforts to keep certain items out of our drains, sometimes matter does make its way past strainers and other tools and sticks in pipes where it could cause problems down the road.

What Does Drain Cleaning Involve?

Let us explain what happens when it is time to have your drains cleaned. When you call Mission Mechanical to schedule a drain cleaning appointment, be sure to tell us if you are currently experiencing drainage issues from one or more drains in your home, or if you are scheduling the service for routine drain maintenance.

During a drain cleaning appointment, a licensed plumber will arrive at your home equipped with the tools necessary to fix clogged drains. If you currently have drainage problems, direct your plumber to the affected drain or drains. Your reputable plumber will examine the situation to determine the cause of the problem and the location of an obstruction in your drain system, if applicable. 

The drain cleaning methods we use depend on the location of a clog and other factors. If we suspect a drain clog is isolated to the drain line running from a single fixture, an auger is commonly used. Also called a drain snake, our professional tools are more powerful than the personal use equipment you can buy from a home improvement store and use at home. Trained plumbers also know how to use this equipment without damaging your drains, which is unfortunately a possibility whenever someone uses equipment they are not familiar with or trained to use. 

Drain augers may also be used to tackle clogs deeper in the home’s drain system. Professional plumbing augers can reach deeper into the drain system than DIY equipment, reaching clog locations in the drain branches and main sewer line of the home. This tool allows us to easily break up and remove clogs that have moved farther down your drain system. Having sewer lines cleaned periodically will reduce odors and clear any clogs.

For maintenance drain cleaning, hydro jetting is a highly useful service. Using this method, pressurized water is used to scour the inner pipe walls of your drain lines. Hydro jetting removes fats, oils, and other debris that cling to the inner walls of drain pipes, restricting the opening more and more over time. Removing this material can help clear up slow drainage and limit the likelihood of a future clog.

Contact Mission Mechanical for Drain Cleaning Services in Central Indiana

How often should you have your drains cleaned to clear and prevent clogs? Mission Mechanical recommends at minimum every 2 years for maintenance, and immediately if you are experiencing drainage issues at home. To schedule drain cleaning services, including sewer drain cleaning, for your Central Indiana home, please contact us today.

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