5 common plumbing myths.
We’ve all heard a tale or two about ways to fix plumbing. Some of them work. Some should never be tried ever again. Here are a few of our favorites:
Sharpening disposal blades with ice
The plumbing myth here is that grinding up ice cubes in cold water will sharpen a disposal’s blades. Unfortunately, that’s really not how disposals work. The blades of a garbage disposal fling food onto something called the shredder ring. The shredder ring has tiny grooves that are what actually cut up the food.
But – there are still some benefits to this idea. While it won’t sharpen the blades, throwing ice onto your shredder ring is a good way to clear away food residue, rust or other debris.
Gone but not forgotten
Some people what goes down the drain, stays down the drain. Out of sight, out of mind. We can simply address this myth with – no. Your drain pipes are not a garbage chute. Just because you manage to flush something doesn’t mean it won’t end up lodged in your pipes. Then, you’ll have a clog at best, and a flood at worst.
Citrus flavored disposal
There’s a myth going around that putting lemon peels down the disposal cleans it. Wrong! Not only will lemons not clean your disposal, tossing fruit peels down there is a great way to diminish your disposal’s effectiveness.
Want your disposal to smell better? Try peeling a lemon and throwing a couple slices down the disposal with some cold water. It’ll give your sink a nice fresh, lemony smell. Remember, no peel.
Flushing the skyscraper
This classic plumbing myth alleges that if you somehow coordinated every single toilet in a skyscraper to flush at once, the effect on the water supply pipes in the building would be so intense that the pipes would burst.
Believe it or not, skyscrapers were built with contingencies like this in mind. Most skyscrapers have multiple completely separate systems of water supply pipes. Flushing all the toilets at once might tax these systems, but not enough for a rupture. The most you’ll probably achieve is just a weak flush.
Just boil it away
Some out there think dumping boiling water down the drain will remove grease clogs. This makes some sense. Grease will congeal on the sides of pipe walls, creating clogs. Boiling water could melt away the congealed grease and then carry it down the pipe and out of your drain system.
Unfortunately, wiping out grease isn’t that easy. In fact, boiling water is more likely to harden grease than melt it down. The easiest way to remove grease from a drain is to keep it from going there in the first place. If you do end up with a greasy clog, the best way to get rid of it is to call Dauenhauer.
Do you have a favorite plumbing myth? We’d love to hear it. Simply call your Louisville Dauenhauer, any hour.
