Drain Care Guide for Hermitage Homes

Most drain clogs are not accidents. They are habits, repeated daily: grease down the kitchen sink, hair and soap down the shower drain, wipes in the toilet, and too little water after each use. Drains do not need special chemicals or gadgets. They need the right things kept out, enough water to carry waste through, and a clearing or camera check promptly when flow slows, before a slow drain becomes a backup.

Kitchen Drains: Grease Is the Problem

Grease does not wash away with hot water. It cools in the pipe, coats the walls, and traps food until the line closes. Scraping plates into the trash, wiping greasy pans with a paper towel before washing, and never pouring cooking oil down the sink prevent most kitchen clogs. Coffee grounds, rice, pasta, and fibrous foods swell, settle, or tangle in the line and belong in the trash, not the disposal. A disposal is not a trash can: small amounts of soft food with plenty of cold water running are its limit. If the kitchen sink backs up when the dishwasher runs, the shared drain is blocked, not the dishwasher, and the drain and disposal connection should be checked together.

Bathroom Drains: Hair, Soap, and Wipes

Shower and tub drains clog with hair and soap scum. A hair catcher over the drain, cleaned weekly, prevents most of it. Toilets clog with wipes, even wipes labelled flushable, cotton products, and too much paper at once. Only human waste and toilet paper should be flushed. If a toilet bubbles when the washer drains, or several fixtures slow down together, the main line is suspect, not the toilet. Stop using water, do not flush to test it, and call for a main-line check.

What Never Goes Down a Drain, and When to Call

Never pour grease, oil, paint, chemicals, or solvents down a drain. Never flush wipes, cotton, dental floss, or sanitary products. Avoid chemical drain cleaners: they rarely clear a real blockage, can damage older pipes and fixtures, and make the line unsafe for the plumber who opens it. Call promptly when a drain slows and stays slow, when the same drain clogs again within weeks, when several fixtures are affected, or when there is a bad smell from a drain that cleaning the trap does not fix. A camera check for a repeat clog is not an upsell: it is how the cause, roots, a belly, a break, or just buildup, is found, so the fix matches the problem.

Checklist

• Scrape plates into the trash; never pour grease down the sink
• Use a hair catcher in showers and tubs; clean it weekly
• Flush only human waste and toilet paper
• Run plenty of water after each use, especially in the kitchen
• Clean the dishwasher filter and check the drain hose loop
• Call promptly for repeat clogs, multi-fixture backups, or drain smells that persist

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