August 31, 2015
If you have a garbage disposal, you know how helpful it can be to significantly reduce the food waste in your home. You also know that when it breaks or malfunctions, it requires an expert to handle the repair. It’s strongly recommended that you schedule annual maintenance for your garbage disposal, but there are some basic maintenance steps you can take on your own to help keep your disposal in optimal shape:
Lubricate the disposal with water before and after using – running cold water for a few seconds before and after using your garbage disposal helps lubricate the blades and drain so that food slides easily away.
Scour with ice cubes once a month – chopping up ice cubes is an easy and safe way to remove any sticking food. Simply put 2-3 ice cubes in your disposal and let it run until the ice is gone.
Don’t ever dispose of fats, oils or grease in your garbage disposal – just as it isn’t healthy to put FOG down your regular drain, it is just as bad to put it into your garbage disposal. These kinds of materials congeal as they cool and then stick to the mechanics and blades of your disposal, eventually causing operational problems.
No fibrous foods or expandable foods, either – fibrous foods like celery have strings that can easily wrap around the components in your garbage disposal, causing problems with the mechanics. Expandable food like pasta, rice, potatoes or potato peels expand significantly when wet and can form a thick paste that can clog the blades and drain.
Do not try to reduce fruit pits – fruit pits, like apricot or peach pits, can do some serious damage to your garbage disposal. It’s best to relegate them to a compost pile or your regular garbage.
The experts at Bronco Plumbing Heating and Air are here to help you with all of your garbage disposal needs in Carmichael, CA, so give us a call today!
How sewer lines can become damaged
- Root infiltration: One of the most common ways that the sewer line can sustain damage is the growth of trees roots that will put pressure on the pipe and infiltrate through the joints. Tree roots are naturally drawn toward the water and nutrients inside sewer pipes, and if trees are planted too near to the sewer line, it can end up causing damage or blockage.
- Corrosion due to age: If you live in an older home built pre-1970, you may have a sewer line made from galvanized steel. (If your home was built pre-World War II, you almost certainly have a steel sewer line.) Although steel is durable and tough, it is also prone to corrosion, something that is not an issue with the copper used to make sewer pipes today. It’s a wise idea to have an old steel pipe replaced before it begins to corrode and develop large leaks and gaps.
- Earthquakes: Natural disasters often inflict damage on long lengths of pipes, and in Southern California our main concern is earthquakes. You should contact professionals for pipeline inspection after a large earthquake to make sure that the sewer line hasn’t suffered from breaks.
Bronco Plumbing Heating and Air has served the greater Sacramento, CA with pipeline inspection work for more than 8 years. Our team of plumbers is experienced with a wide range of repair work for sewer lines, as well as thorough sewer line cleaning using hydro-jetting. If you have any concerns about the condition of your sewer line, give us a call today.