Sometimes, you can’t control your child from stuffing his toy down the toilet but you can control what you flush. Other than toilet paper, only few item that breakdown naturally in the septic system. But most of these every-day objects that you’re flushing can cause an extreme back-up. Take a look at these household items that are silently wreaking such havoc in your pipes that it costs you much more than those items are worth.
Dental Floss
As small and thin as this helpful substance is, it’s a rusty pipes worst nightmare. When you flush dental floss down the toilet, you are taking the chance of it getting caught on rigid, old pipes along the way, especially if you’re unaware of the age of your system.
Feminine Products
Some feminine products are labeled as ‘flushable’, however, it doesn’t mean you should. All thick products such as these are cushioned to absorb a great deal of liquid and can easily get lodged, especially in older piping systems. Feminine products include anything from small tampons to liners. Though they are small enough to flush, they are not flushable items.
Q-Tips
These items may seem thin enough to move swiftly through the pipes but they can actually lodge sideways in narrow pipe space, catching anything that moves past. Q-tips can also poke holes through old pipes.
Dryer sheets
This material may seem easily flushable, but can cause quick clogs in toilets. Aside from clogging, these sheets are hazardous to treatment facilities and the local water shed because they are made of harsh chemicals. Trash it!
Cigarette butts
Cigarette’s do not break down and are one of the most common items that get flushed down the toilet. Cigarette butts, when accumulated, expand in water, making it difficult to pass through.
Wet Napkins
Baby wipes, sanitary napkins, and facial wipes can form a small clog that can lead to an even bigger one later on. Although the label may give you the OK to flush them, use the trash can for these items.
Band-Aids
As small and helpful these are to you, they aren’t helpful to your pipes. Band-Aids do not degrade and, because of the sticky substances, can easily fuse to your pipes and cause drastic build up.
Paper towels and Tissue
Other common objects are paper towels or tissues. You assume that all paper products are thin enough to breakdown when flushed but this is not the case with these items. This type of paper is designed to stay together and absorb, making it tough to break down once flushed.
Pharmaceuticals and vitamins
Vitamins and medications break down only after human consumption, not when flushed. Some vitamins contain oily substances such as fats that can harden on their way through the pipes and block anything else from passing through.
Animal Products
Cat litter, goldfish, food products, and sand are not to be flushed. Clogging and corrosion of your pipes may occur from flushing such materials. Cat litter, for example, is made of sand and clay that cause scratching and tearing through the pipes.
Diapers
No matter how small or soiled, never flush a diaper or the flushable insert. Diapers are made to absorb liquid and these materials will expand, leaving dry pockets in your sewer, and even worse in sewer plants. This type of material is not only harmful to the environment, but old rigid pipes can catch the substance and other items along the way, making water-flow impossible.
