School's Out: How To Save Your Plumbing from Bored Kids

Summer is in full swing which means it’s time for all the kids to let loose and have some fun! Unfortunately, this often involves household messes and plumbing disasters from your curious sprouts.

What can I do about it?

It’s all about prevention! We get so many calls from people whose children flush all sorts of things down the toilet. Here’s a couple of our favorite calls that we’ve gotten and ways that you can avoid [or bounce back from] a flush frenzy.

I Now Pronounce You Outta Luck.

“Hello, can you help me?! My son just threw my engagement ring down the drain. I took it off to give him a bath and, next thing you know, I hear a flush and it’s gone!! Is there anything you can do?!”

Sadly, this call is pretty common. Even though the ring can take months to pay off, it can only take a few seconds to disappear.

How to Avoid It: The best way to keep your ring from taking the long road down to sewertown is to never let it out of your sight. Buy a lanyard with a snap hook end, then anytime you need to do chores requiring you to take the wedding ring off, simply place the ring around the hook until you’re done. With millions of different lanyard designs, this can be a fun solution for making sure your precious jewelry is safe and secure.

How to Bounce Back: As soon as you suspect that your ring may have gone down a drain, immediately try to stop running any water in the house. This one move can potentially stop the ring from traveling further down your drains. From there, give Zoom Drain a call to come out and video inspect your drains. Once we find it we can do everything in our power to bring your ring (and other jewelry) right back to you.

Welcome to the Rock.

“Hi, my kids and their friends threw a bunch of rocks down a “bottomless pit” in my front yard that actually turned out to be an access point to our main drain. I’m now having trouble running my water.”

Oh, summer adventures! You know the saying, if the kids are quiet then that most likely means they’re up to no good. Your main drain is the underground highway that transports water away from your house and into the city sewer system. Repairs from problems such as piled up rocks could be costly. Don’t get us wrong, curiosity is great, but not when it means having to unearth your main drain.

How to Avoid It: The easiest way is to get a “vent cap” for your outside main drain access to the main drain that will keep kids from mistaking the drain for a bottomless pit or rock receptacle. It’s a quick fix, and that’s usually all it will take! But, if your little explorer is more tenacious and gets past the vent cap, read on…

How to Bounce Back: I’m going to sound like a broken record, but if you’re still able to run any water, do your best not to until the problem is solved. Running excess water when there’s an obstruction could lead to unneeded pressure on your pipes and backups throughout your entire house. Next, give us a call and we can clear your drains in one of two ways: PowerSnaking or Zoom Jetting. 

Our PowerSnake services use a rotating claw-like machine that cuts through and pushes out hard blockages. However, depending on the size of the blockage, you may be better off with our Zoom Jetting service. This utilizes a high-velocity water jet that completely scours the drain line of all hard blockages and buildup that may have occurred naturally (or unnaturally).

The best part is you’ll never be left questioning if the obstruction is actually gone, as all cleaning services on main drains include a free peek video inspection. Not only will we get the drain cleared, you’ll also be able to see first-hand that your drain has been cleaned!

To beez or Not Orbeez? 

"Hi there! I bought my child some Orbeez and she washed them down our kitchen sink. They're starting to back up and we can't get them out. What should we do?" 

The Orbeez craze has reached a fever pitch. If you're not familiar, Orbeez are tiny beads that grow up to 100 times their original size when placed in water. If it reaches your drains then it could spell major trouble as the beads will continue to absorb water until the pipes are unusable.

How to Avoid It: While Orbeez can be a fun science experiment to do around the house, the last place you want these beads to wind up is down your drains. When playing with these, make sure you keep the fun confined to areas away from anything with drain access (bathtubs, sinks, toilets). 

How to Bounce Back: Much like if you were dealing with rocks in your pipes, an experienced Zoom technician can assess your problem to find the best possible solution. Your drain system is one of the most fragile systems in your home, so you'll never want to attempt to fix the problem yourself and there could be numerous problems. Upon further evaluation, a Zoom Drain tech can tackle the issue with either our power snake, water jet, or even replace your pipes. 

Take the Clogs Out Of Your Summer.

Summer is a time of adventure, the stuff memories are made of. Don’t let a little drain mishap throw shade on your sunny day. Give us a call or schedule service online to have one of our expert technicians restore your drains and get you and your family back to having the fun you’ve been waiting for all year!