SAVE MONEY ON TOILET REPAIR, DON’T FLUSH YOUR SANITARY WIPES!

Why Flushing Regular Wipes Will Clog Your Drains

Don’t Flush! Why Regular Wipes Will Lead to a Toilet Repair

In the last few years, the cleaning industry has been boosted by the emergence of disposable wipes. You can use disposable wipes to clean all kinds of surfaces — from your bathroom sink to your kitchen counter to your children’s bottoms. There are a wide variety of wipes to meet your specific cleaning needs.

Companies have even designed what they call “flushable” wipes that are safe to send down your plumbing pipes. But as the competition to clean the most efficiently and easily increases and as more consumers invest in the disposable wipe trend, many people — and cities — are also facing a serious issue. Not all disposable wipes are equal.

Read on to learn more about why flushing disposable wipes down your toilet can lead to serious drain cleaning and toilet repair.

The more you know, the better equipped you will be to cultivate a plan for using disposable wipes in your home. There are many dangers to flushing these wipes down your toilet, so follow along in our quick guide for tips that you can use right now. Don’t create a disaster in your home — or even in your city. Flushing disposable wipes can create a ripple effect in a community.

Here’s why:

Tip #1: Wipes Are Not Immediately Biodegradable

Many consumers don’t realize that flushing disposable wipes can create a major problem for a home’s plumbing system. It’s true that disposable wipes are made of cloth-like materials that will disintegrate in a landfill over time.

Disposable wipes do not have the ability to deteriorate and agitate through a sewer pump with the same ease as toilet paper. You can prove this in a simple experiment in your kitchen sink as a visual reminder. If you lay a sheet of toilet paper in the bottom of your sink and a disposable wipe and then turn on the water, you can quickly see that the toilet paper becomes paper mush while the wipe doesn’t go anywhere. That’s because a disposable wipe is engineered to be durable and sturdy.

It’s fibers are woven, making it difficult to dismantle. And if these two products operate this way in your kitchen sink, you better believe they are going to act that way in your pipes. Disposable wipes are much more likely than toilet paper to ball up in sewer pipes and get caught in your home sump pump. It’s also important to remember that even if the wipes make it out of your pipes, they have the potential to clog the sewer pipes of the city where you live.

Tip #2: Flushing Wipes Could Create a Backup in Your Community

Not only does the construction of a disposable wipe have the potential to clog the pipes in your home — but it could have far-reaching effects in main sewer pipes throughout your community.

Here’s the reason why: Pipe systems in cities throughout the United States were constructed many years ago to accommodate wastewater and toilet paper. With the advent of disposable wipes, the pipes have not been outfitted to handle the potential risks. To modify pipes to address disposable wipes just isn’t plausible as it would require digging up miles of pipes throughout cities in the U.S. and cost taxpayers millions.

What is happening, however, is a ripple effect in communities. Wastewater facilities across the United States are reporting that disposable wipes are wreaking havoc on their pipes. They are having to hire contractors to declog their pipes and carry the disposable wipes to the landfill.

What does this mean for your community? It means that if everyone in your community is flushing wipes, that a clog could happen in your main lines, and cause sewage to backfill into the street — or even worse, into your home. That’s not something you want to come home to.

Tip #3: Beware of the Label

There are some disposable wipes that are labeled as “flushable.” This is a case where it really pays to read the label. Many consumers think that all wipes are flushable, but the truth is, consumers should be wary of wipes that are even labeled “flushable.” Any disposable wipe has the potential to get caught in the sewer and piping system and create problems for you and your community.

Big brand companies have touted their wipes as safe to flush, but that’s a question you’ll have to determine for yourself. You’re the person who has the potential risk of a clog and a big plumbing bill. To play it safe, it’s better to put only toilet paper in a toilet. If you can stick to that plan, you can still use disposable wipes, you just have to treat your toilet with a little more care.

Get Ready to Take the Next Steps

Have we frightened you enough? We kind of hope so. Will you ever flush a disposable wipe down the drain? We hope after reading this guide you won’t! It will take some practice if you are used to flushing wipes down your toilet.

However, with a little education and a little planning, you can help protect your home from the damage of disposable wipes in your drains. Get the whole family involved in changing your flushing habits.

If you’ve never had a problem with flushing wipes at your home you should know that it can happen at anytime. Without routinely running a camera through your sewer pipes, you’ll never know what is clogging them until it’s too late. And the last thing you want is to arrive home late one night to find your living room floating in sewage. So start practicing now for a healthy pipe system in the future. You’ll be breathing easy all year-round and saving money as you go along.

We’re here to help when your pipes are clogged. Ready for a drain cleaning? For outstanding services in your Los Angeles, CA home, call Fix It Fast Plumbing at (805) 623-4417.