Happy New Year! We hope you have an amazing year, full of health and prosperity.
Lots of folks around the world rang in 2022 with cultural traditions.
- In Spain, revelers munched down twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve to bring luck.
- In the Netherlands, families ate pieces of dough fried in fat to keep away evil.
- In Denmark, neighbors threw plates at one another’s front doors to banish ill will.
- In South Africa, the residents of Johannesburg threw furniture out of windows to make a fresh start in the New Year.
Here in Colorado we like to commune with nature on holidays and we often do things for a cause. From Evergreen to Ouray, people threw on their swimming suits and jumped into freezing water to raise money for charity on New Year’s Day. (Brrrr. Anyone heard of the 5K where you sleep in, keep warm and just donate?)
We’re sure all of these events were fun and worthwhile, but we suggest establishing a more pragmatic New Year’s tradition. Start your year off right by paying attention to your plumbing! After all, your pipes and sewer line work hard for you all year long. Making sure they’re in working order early on can ensure many happy (non-) returns. Here are tips to help:
Flush your lines
First, make sure you don’t have clogged pipes. If you do, call a plumber like Garvin’s.
- Head to your kitchen sink and turn on the hot water tap full blast.
- Run the water about 30 seconds. Shut off the tap and wait for any water to drain completely.
- Place 1 cup of baking soda in your drain.
- Slowly pour 1 cup of vinegar over the baking soda. You will hear fizzing and bubbling. Let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes.
- Finally, rinse the vinegar and soda and any loosened debris down your sink by turning the hot water on a second time at full blast for about 30 seconds.
Can the grease
Never. Ever. Never. Put grease down your drains. Store it in a jar or can and throw it in the trash instead.
Limit food disposal
You’ll save your main line and your garbage disposal if you limit the amounts and kinds of food you put down your kitchen sink. See the garbage disposal section of this blog for what to avoid putting in your disposal.
Favor focused flushing
Remind your family and friends to never flush anything down your toilet except toilet paper. Nope. No meds. No deceased guppies. No sanitary products. No smoking products. No expired makeup. Just… none of that. It always ends badly. Take our word for it.
Scope your line
If you have an older home with clay or cast iron sewer pipes, this is a good year to have them inspected with a sewer scope. Sewer lines can shift, break and be infiltrated by tree roots and keeping them cleared will help them last. An inspection will ease your mind about their condition and make your plumbing one less thing to think about.
Watch those roots
Speaking of tree roots. Keep an eye on your tree roots. They are a major cause of sewer line damage. If your drains are slow, your toilets gurgle, you experience bad smells from your drains, or you feel soft, watery patches in your yard, you may have roots in your line, which Garvin’s can easily and affordably clean out.
Plan preventative measures
Ask a reputable plumbing services company like Garvin’s Sewer Service to clean your sewer line once or twice a year. The frequency depends on how often roots get into your line, how many people live in your home, the length of your line, the material your sewer line is made of as well as the age of your home and plumbing.
Garvin’s of Denver, Englewood and Boulder can help you with preventative sewer line maintenance, sewer inspection, drain cleaning, garbage disposal repair and replacement and more. Contact us today for a Speedy Fast Quote or call us anytime.
Sources
20 Unique New Year’s Eve Traditions from around the World (bestlifeonline.com)
7 Strange New Year’s Eve Traditions from Around the World – SeeThru (seethrumag.com)
Baking Soda and Vinegar Drain Unclogging Tricks – Plumbing Sniper
4 Signs You Have Tree Roots in Your Pipes | Choate’s HVAC and Plumbing (choateshvac.com)