Keeping your home’s plumbing system well-maintained is an important part of preventing a major plumbing emergency. This is especially true during this time of year when the cold weather can be very damaging to pipes, fixtures, and fittings.

Much of your plumbing system is buried in the ground under your home. The system is designed to bring clean water to the home for you to use when bathing or cooking, and then to carry the water away from the home after it’s been used.

Especially if they have not been properly maintained:

• Don’t put things down the garbage disposal that don’t belong. Your garbage disposal is not a garbage can. It is simply an appliance that is meant to make food prep and clean up go a bit smoother and faster. When you put items in your garbage disposal that don’t belong, you are putting your entire kitchen sink at risk of a clog.
• Don’t put things down the toilet that don’t belong. No one likes to think took much about their toilet. But, it is a very important drain in the home that must be well cared for. Putting items down the toilet like baby wipes, q-tips, cat litter, dental floss, etc. can be very damaging not only to the toilet itself but, to the pipes and the sewage system that the toilet connects to.
• Don’t put dishes in the dishwasher that have not been thoroughly rinsed. No one wants to have to wash a sink full of dishes before they wash a dishwasher full of dishes, but it is very important to at least rinse the dishes thoroughly to make sure that all large particles of food are in the garbage disposal or garbage can rather than in the dishwasher.

Regular maintenance is a very important part of keeping all types of systems working correctly. This is especially true for your plumbing system. It gets used all year around by a wide variety of people in your household and must be well kept to prevent any kind of major plumbing emergency.