Household toilets receive a lot of wear and tear, not only from daily usage but improper usage as well. Many people forget their bathroom etiquette and flush the wrong things down the toilet. Forget once and it’s probably not a big deal. It’s when you keep flushing the wrong things down the toilet that problems begin to multiply.
Check out this list of 5 things you should never flush down the toilet.
Paper Towels and Facial Tissues
These items seem harmless because they’re just like toilet tissue. Right? Wrong. Toilet tissue is made to dissolve in water, leaving no trace of its existence. Paper towels and facial tissues are not constructed in this way. Therefore, when you flush these items, you risk the paper catching inside the drains. All it takes is one paper towel to get caught inside the pipe for a clog to form.
Feminine Hygiene Products
The box might say they’re sewer and septic safe, but these products have no place in a toilet. They absorb water and expand. It doesn’t take long for clogs to form once you’ve flushed one or two of these. Dispose of feminine hygiene products in the trash can.
Prescription Medication
You think you’re doing a good thing by getting rid of used prescription medication. You’ve heard that you should flush it down the toilet. However, doing this is a big no-no. One, the chemicals in the medication get into the water supply after it leaves the waste water treatment facility. When this water is filled with chemicals, it affects streams, ponds, and lakes as well as the wildlife and vegetation drink and absorb the water.
Secondly, flushing medication when you have a septic system disrupts upsets the balance of bacteria in the tank. If you flush medication, you risk damaging your septic system.
Oils
A popular tooth whitening method is called oil pulling. Have you heard of it? It involves swishing coconut oil in your mouth for 15 – 20 minutes and then spitting the oil out. You know you shouldn’t spit oil in the sink, but you also shouldn’t spit it in the toilet. Coconut oil hardens as it cools. Instead of spitting it in the toilet, spit in the trash can.
Dental Floss
When was the last time you flushed dental floss down the toilet? This tiny piece of string doesn’t seem like it’s all that harmful, but it has the potential to create a massive ball of string in your pipes. If you flush dental floss daily, it doesn’t take long for backups to happen.
Drain Cleaning Advice
Local plumbers want you to stop treating your toilet like a trash can. Doing so, saves you money and prevents possible flooding or water damage. Keep a trash can in the bathroom to dispose of Q-tips, cotton balls, dental floss, and other bathroom hygiene supplies.
If you do experience a clog that doesn’t loosen with a plunger, call a plumber for professional drain cleaning services. Powerful tools like the drain snake and the hydro-jetter get rid of tough toilet clogs fast.
Contact The Pink Plumber with any of your plumbing and septic system concerns.
