Four Plumbing Myths That Must Die

There are many Plumbing Myths that over the years have become accepted as truth. A Myth is “a widely held but false belief or idea”. While Plumbing Myths sound harmless, they range from useless to damaging and even dangerous.

Here are four Plumbing Myths that need dispelling once and for all.

Bricks In Toilet Cisterns Save Water

True putting a brick in your Toilet cistern will save water. A flushed toilet releases water from the cistern after the water’s expelled the toilet valve refills the cistern. Once the cistern’s filled to the correct level, the water stops. Placing a brick effectively decreases the volume of the cistern saving water on each fill. However slowly but surely water will dissolve the brick creating problems for your Toilet parts. With modern low flush toilets (which save you water anyway) a brick will eliminate too much water resulting in a weak flush meaning extra flushes. You can put bricks in your cistern if you have an old toilet without a low flush mechanism, just wrap the brick in a plastic bag.

Pouring Fat Down The Sinks Ok As Long As It’s With Boiling Water

The most convenient way to dispose of leftover cooking fat is to pour it down the sink. Anyone who’s done this a few times knows what a blockage is, but pouring the grease followed by boiling water’s ok? The pipes never block with this method. Correct you’ll get the fat through your pipes under the sink and into the drain, but as soon as the fat cools, it’ll harden. Too many people doing this leads to the phenomenon known as fatbergs, huge masses of fat that blocks our sewers. A blocked sewer is highly unpleasant, so please stop pouring fat down the sink. Let the fat cool and harden in the pots and pans, clean it out with kitchen towel and put it in the bin.

Flushable Biodegradable Baby Wipes Are Flushable

The majority of ‘Flushable’ Baby Wipes are not flushable nine out of ten don’t break down in the sewer (confirmed by the water industry’s disintegration tests). Baby wipes are responsible for over 90% of sewer blockages. Flushable Baby Wipes are a huge problem don’t believe the claims of the manufacturers wipes simply don’t break down fast enough so don’t flush them.

Chemical Unblockers Will Unblock Your Drain

Have a blocked drain? Go into your local DIY store. The friendly person in the Plumbing section (who isn’t a qualified Plumber) will give you a bottle of chemicals and say “this will unblock your drain”. To your disappointment it doesn’t most of the time chemical unblockers don’t work, can damage your pipes, put you at risk if you try to unblock with a plunger and put the Plumber you end up calling at risk also. Always avoid chemical drain unblockers.