Few things have as much of an impact on the health and comfort of your Mesa, AZ home as your plumbing system. Responsible for carrying fresh, potable water in and routing waste and wastewater out, this system keeps you and all other residents of your home hydrated and clean. When your plumbing system is dirty and ill-maintained, problems like excess humidity, mold, mildew, and food contamination abound. Among the best ways to keep your plumbing system functioning as it should is by scheduling professional drain cleaning service once each year. The following are several reasons why.
Drain Cleaning Keeps Wastewater Moving Swiftly
With regular plumbing system use, body oils, soap scum, and hair gradually accumulate on pipe walls and decrease their interior diameter. This gives wastewater less room to move and slows down draining.
Nothing is sanitary about standing in your own gray water when you take a hot shower. Unfortunately, if your drains are dirty, your shower water won’t drain quickly enough to keep your shower pan empty. Sluggish, slow-moving drains are a sign of thick, in-pipe buildups of pathogenic debris.
Unfortunately, when you shower in a bathroom with slow-moving drains, you aren’t just standing in your own gray water. Your feet are also submerged in water that’s rife with all the bacteria, fungi, and other pathogens that are present in your dirty pipes. This could lead to fungal toenail infections, general skin irritation, and painful skin infections like cellulitis.
Flush Out Dangerous Biofilm and Other Pathogenic Build-ups
What’s waste to you is food to microorganisms. Many harmful bacteria and other pathogens feed on the organic materials that get flushed down your drains. These organisms excrete slimy substances known as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) or biofilm.
Tacky and glue-like in its consistency, this black goo lines dirty drains and pipes. Worst of all, the germs in biofilm are more robust and virulent than they are outside of it. Many of these germs are highly resistant to bleach and other sanitizing chemicals. Some are even antibiotic-resistant. This is a good reason to both stay on top of drain cleaning and avoid using shower pans and other plumbing fixtures with slow-moving drains.
Prevent Dangerous, Whole-House Backups
Every drain in your Mesa home connects to your main sewer line. This line either delivers your waste to a private septic tank or routes it to the municipal sewer system. Drain cleaning services like hydro-jetting, hydro-steaming, and rooter service break up thick, in-pipe buildups and flush out silt, sediment, and other waste. Performed at plumbing cleanouts, drain cleaning can even break up fast-growing sewer line blockages caused by invasive tree roots and weeds.
Without regular drain cleaning, built-up debris and sewer line encroachment could send your waste and wastewater back into your home. Although general drain cleaning doesn’t prevent all sewer line problems and whole-house backup events, it can greatly reduce your risk of experiencing these things.
Stave Off Clogs
By sloughing off buildups of in-pipe waste, drain cleaning opens pipe interiors. This provides more room for larger solid and semi-solid items to pass. This way, if someone in your household uses too much toilet paper or flushes a large amount of human waste at once, your wastewater pipes can handle it.
Maintain Balanced Indoor Humidity
Backups, clogs, and slow-moving drains can add a significant amount of humidity to your indoor air. Much of the water in slow-moving drains evaporates before it exits homes. This could leave your house feeling muggy, hot, and oppressive even when your AC is on. Increased humidity also sets the stage for rank, moldering odors and widespread problems with mold and mildew growth.
Keep Your Sinks and Shower Pans Germ-Free
If you have slow-moving drains, there’s a good chance that your sinks and shower pans will look dingy even after you’ve scrubbed them clean. Plumbing fixtures with slow-moving drains are more likely to develop unsightly hard-water buildups than fixtures connected to high-functioning drains.
When wastewater slowly exits plumbing fixtures, it often leaves behind greasy, filmy residues and plenty of in-pipe bacteria. This is how poorly maintained drains can lead to food contamination and food-borne illnesses. If someone drops a tomato or an apple in your kitchen sink while washing it off, it could meet dangerous drain bacteria.
Get Rid of Nasty Drain Gnat Infestations
Dirty drains also set the stage for annoying drain gnat infestations. Once they set up camp, these tiny bugs are relentless. They feed on trapped grease and food residues in drain catches. They prefer moist, dirty conditions when laying their eggs. Drain cleaning services like hydro-jetting and hydro-steaming will flush these pests out and keep them from returning.
Dirty Drains Can Attract Larger Pests
Poorly maintained plumbing systems can also lure larger pests. This is especially true in homes with dirty, damaged sewer lines. Keeping your drains clean will limit your risk of rodent infestations by eliminating slow-moving or standing water and viable sources of food.
Get Rid of Funky Drain Odors
Among the many benefits of professional drain cleaning service is its ability to keep drains fresh smelling. If you haven’t had your drains cleaned in quite some time, you may have rank odors in your kitchen and bathrooms that won’t go away even when these spaces are visibly clean. These unpleasant smells are the result of odor-causing bacteria in biofilm and stagnant or slow-moving water.
Why Baking Soda and White Vinegar Flushes Don’t Count
There are countless homemade remedies for freshening kitchen and bathroom drains. Among the most popular of these is adding equal parts white vinegar and baking soda to drains. When combined, these two pantry staples undergo a vigorous, foaming reaction.
Although they’re both effective, natural cleaning agents, they aren’t sufficient for cleaning out dirty drains and tough in-pipe buildups. Whether used together or alone, they can’t break down biofilm or hair, and they can’t remove built-up sediment. At best, this mixture works well for periodically freshening drains in between annual drain cleaning services.
What About Chemical Drain Cleaners?
Often used for DIY clog removal, chemical drain cleaners are low-cost products that homeowners can find at many home and hardware stores. In fact, these products are so popular that they’re often sold at local convenience stores. Unfortunately, they’re terrible for plumbing systems. Despite being referred to as “drain cleaners,” they cause far more problems than they solve, especially when used on a regular basis.
Whether corrosive or caustic, these products dissolve organic materials indiscriminately. They can “eat” through protective pipe coatings and pipes themselves. They can also cause serious skin and eye burns on contact. When used in poorly ventilated spaces, they can also cause respiratory harm.
Which Drain Cleaning Method Is Right for Your Home?
Hydro-jetting and hydro-steaming are both highly effective for eliminating drain waste and in-pipe buildups. However, the ultra-high pressure used in these treatments may be too forceful for aging plumbing systems and pipes with significant corrosion. Before cleaning your drains, our plumbers will assess the age and integrity of your pipes to determine the best drain cleaning method for your home.
If hydro-jetting or hydro-steaming aren’t suitable, we can use mechanical rooter tools instead. These retractable tools extend deep into plumbing systems and slough off stuck-on waste. After removing rooter tools, we flush plumbing systems with low-pressure water to move loosened debris toward the sewer main.
Established in 1995, we’ve been proudly serving Mesa for many years with top-notch plumbing, sewer line, drain cleaning, and water heater services. We offer consistently excellent workmanship, solid guarantees, and competitive pricing. If you need drain cleaning in Mesa, get in touch with Delta Mechanical now.
