A blocked drain emergency brings many problems. In addition to the disruption caused by any emergency they bring their own unpleasant side effects. Drains emergencies can cause unpleasant odours and potential flooding of your whole home. If you run a business and have a problem at your working site this can result in loss of customer and employee goodwill, lost productivity and revenue.

There are a number of regular maintenance activities you can undertake to reduce the potential for a blocked drain problem: -

• Look for and remove any hairs that get trapped in the bath/basin/shower plug hole.
• Ensure that you flush bath/basin/shower waste pipes with disinfectant to clear soap residue which can build over time.
• Keep small objects such as combs, bottles, toys, spare toilet rolls away from where they could fall into the toilet and cause a blockage.
• Do not flush disposable items such as nappies and sanitary towels down the toilet as these are a major cause of blockages to the toilet or the drainage pipes outside your house.
• Keep drain grids free from falling leaves in the autumn and look out for the growth of moss in the spring.
• Check drains are free-flowing by periodically lifting drain covers, make sure that you are physically strong enough to to this and do not strain your back.
• Check gutters and downpipes twice a year. Remove any debris that you find to allow a free flow of water.
• Do not pour cooking fat and waste food products down the drain. Once they hit cold areas the fat will solidify and create a blockage.
• Don’t overdo the use of soap powder when doing your washing and consider regularly using a product which clears these soap deposits from the washing machine and from the dish washer.

Whilst the above may seem to be a large number of tasks they can easily be fitted into a regular home maintenence plan and spread the workload. Remember this schedule is designed to avoid a drains emergency and all the problems that this can bring.