6 Residential Plumbing Fallacies

Everyone likes to try their hand at the DIY plumbing trade once in a while. While do it yourself methods can get the job done and potentially save money, you also run the risk of further complicating the situation. If you plan on doing DIY plumbing work, make sure you do ample research on the internet so you are confident you won't be screwing anything up. Here are a few residential plumbing fallacies you may want to take into consideration when working on your next DIY job:

1. Pouring Grease into the Sink

After you finish your meal cooking endeavor for the night, you often times want to take the easy way out when it comes to cleaning up your mess. Pouring grease down your sink is one of the worst things you can do for your pipes. Although cooking oils and animal fat are liquid when you first finish up with them, they do not stay in the liquid stage for very long. If you pour grease down your kitchen sink, it will likely harden and clog up your pipes. If for some reason you do this, call a professional plumber. Pouring hot water or chemicals down there will only make matters worst. However, my advice to you is to not do it in the first place; take the extra time to dispose of it correctly.

2.  Unclogging Your Sink

Standard issue sink clogs seem like the perfect DIY issue. All you need is a plunger and some chemicals, right? Kind of, but you have to be careful. While pouring chemicals and plunging are both great sink unclog tactics, you have to be sure to do them in the right order. First, you should try plunging. If that doesn't do the clog justice, try to pour proper chemicals down your sink in an attempt to dissolve the clog. However, you should NOT try to plunge again after you have poured chemicals. Plunging can re-surface harmful chemicals that could potentially damage your health.

3. The Toilet is a Garbage Disposal

Well, I'm here to tell you it isn't. The only things designed to be flushed down your toilet are feces and toilet paper, and I advise you leave it at that. Even anti-bacterial wipes that are advertised as "flush friendly" are not truly designed for flushing. 

4. Any Plumber Will Do

Just like with any other service you pay for, you pay for what you get with residential plumbers. Although you may think that all plumbers have a good idea of what they are doing, skimping out on service quality to save a few bucks can sometimes make your problem worse. Best thing you can do is research various local plumbers and see what customers have to say about their services.

5. Garbage Disposal Maintenance

The common belief is that running lemons through your garbage disposal is a great way to clean it. Lemons will suppress the odor from the garbage disposal, but they will not clean it. In fact, doing this can actually be harmful due to lemon juice's acidic nature on metal pipes. A much better and efficient way to clean your garbage disposal is to run ice cubes through it as opposed to lemons.

6. Hemisphere Determines Flush Rotation

Many believe that when you flush a toilet in the norther hemisphere, the water will flush counter clockwise; likewise, flushing in the southern hemisphere will result in a clockwise water rotation. That is not the case. Water rotation in a normal toilet is based on toilet design. The theory that water flushes opposite directions in opposite hemispheres comes from the Coriolis effect, but the amount of water flushed in a toilet is not enough to be altered by this effect.