Drain clogs are just about as common a problem as can affect the plumbing in a home. The usual culprits for clogged or slow drains are hair clogs, FOG (fats, oils, and grease), hard water minerals, soap scum, food, and more serious problems with the sewer line. If you can’t clear out a clog using a plunger or a basic hand-cranked drain snake, then it’s recommended you call for a plumber in San Juan Capistrano, CA who’s licensed and equipped to take care of the problem.
We have a long history with drain cleaning and unclogging, so we’ve seen many of the more … unusual things that can clog up drains. In this post, we’re going to look at some of these odder sources of blocked drains. Some may sound bizarre, but any of them could happen to you—and any of them we can fix.
Cement
“Why would I pour cement down my drains?” We know this sounds weird (although we’re sure someone, somewhere has tried pouring quick-dry cement down a drain), but cement in the drains doesn’t come from anything you put down there. During plumbing remodeling, cement is often used to block up drains no longer in use. If this isn’t done right—such as during a DIY project—it can lead to the cement entering drains that are in use! Fixing this problem usually involves repiping.
Cat litter
Cat litter poured into the toilet is one of the fastest ways to have a clogged drain. We understand that you may want to get rid of the litter from the cat’s litter box as fast as possible, but flushing it down the toilet is not the way to do it. Cat litter is designed to clump together for easy removal, but this means it clumps together in the plumbing and creates heavy clogs. To avoid this, always bag up cat litter and remove it to an outer trash receptacle.
Flushable wipes
Here’s a problem that we soon have to move from the “unusual” to “usual” column. There isn’t any such thing as a “flushable wipe,” no matter what the package says. These wipes are absorbent and tend to stick to each other. They will rapidly pile together and form an emulsion that blocks off the drains. Worse, they can enter the municipal drains and cause a problem for more homes than yours!
Smartphones
Phones are now everywhere, and you’re probably carrying one in your pocket right now. A phone can easily slip from a shirt pocket and fall into the toilet. This creates massive blockage in the drain, and it takes a plumber to fix the problem. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done to rescue the phone at this point.
Animals
This is not a pleasant one to think about. But vermin and other small animals can enter into your plumbing system and block up a drain. The critter that causes problems most often are rats and mice. But it could be snakes. We want to emphasize that this is rare, but it’s something to consider—and yet another reason you want professionals to handle your drain cleaning needs.