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Avoiding nasty blockages
Clogged drains or a loo you can’t flush should be the least of your worries, but blockages don't just cause a problem for you. They cause issues for your neighbours too.
There are some easy and simple actions you can take every day to help protect your drains and keep the sewers flowing for everyone.
Top tips for the bathroom
Follow these simple tips in the bathroom to avoid nasty blockages. That way your shower will be stress free and the water will be removed quickly and safely.
Only ever flush pee, poo and toilet paper.
Bag sanitary towels and tampons then bin them.
Bin wipes to avoid blocked drains.
Use a bin with a lid to keep bathroom waste out of sight.
Top tips for the kitchen
We have some simple ways you can prevent blockages to keep your pipes clear and able to remove your dirty water effectively.
Scrape pots, pans and plates before washing up.
Use strainers in your sinks.
Recycle leftover food waste, including soups and sauces.
Collect used oil in a container and throw it in the bin.
How drains get clogged up and blocked
Blocked pipes are often caused by items such as wet wipes, sanitary products and tampons being flushed down the loo and leftover fats and oils from cooking being poured down the sink.
This then causes blockages which are messy, unpleasant and can cause sewage to flow back inside your home. It can be upsetting for you and your loved ones and it’s also costly to fix.
Wet wipes
Wet wipes, baby wipes, cleaning wipes, make up wipes, toilet wipes - they're all so handy!
We use them around our house to clean surfaces, to wipe sticky faces and hands and keep babies bottoms clean and fresh – but not all wet wipes break down or dissolve like toilet paper when flushed, even if they are labelled as flushable.
Bag and bin unflushable wipes
Only wet wipes with the Fine 2 Flush mark on their packaging can be safely flushed down the loo. No sign of the symbol? Then don’t flush them - bin them
These have been tested to confirm they don't contain plastic, classing them as moist toilet tissues that will break down in the sewer system.
Fat, oil and grease myth
"Washing down left-over fats, oils and grease down the sink with hot water and detergent clears the pipe."
The reality is that as soon as the oil hits the cold sewer pipes it hardens and sticks to the inside of the pipes.
This builds up and sticks to other unflushable items, such as wet wipes and sanitary products which might already be in the sewer.
This not only causes a problem for you, but it can also affect your neighbours too.
Pouring oils, bacon fat, leftover food waste, soups, sauces and gravy down the sink even once can cause a blockage.
Ever heard of a fatberg?
All the food waste, leftover cooking oil and fat congeals with flushed sanitary products, wipes and other items to form a solid mass known as a fatberg.
Each time more unflushable items enter the sewer, they stick to the fatberg and the blockage grows.
Fatbergs prevent your wastewater flowing through the sewer. It has nowhere to go and if left like this, dirty water can end up flooding your home and the homes of your neighbours. This is also harmful to the local environment.
Fact-bergs
- We clear over 45,000 blockages every year and around 70% of them are caused by the wrong things being put down the sink and toilet.
- It costs us over £10 million every year to regularly clean sewers to remove wipes, sanitry products, fats and oils to prevent blockages.
- The size of an average drain pipe is only 150mm, so even putting a small amount of fat, oil or grease down the plughole can quickly block the pipes.
