What Causes a Disposal Drain Clog?
Your garbage disposal is a workhorse appliance in your kitchen and one often taken for granted. Your disposerl will have no problem grinding most food waste, but that's not where the problems with a "clog" lies. Clogs are most often caused by how the ground food waste reacts to water or lack of water after the disposal unit has ground it up and sends it on its way. When a garbage disposal clogs you will often find the problem in the trap found on the waste discharge side of the disposal.

Here are some substances that might pose clogging to your drains.

• Inadequate water used to flush disposal when grinding
• Grinding egg shells
• Grinding coffee grounds
• Grinding potato peels
• Grinding banana peels

Simple Fix: The simplest way to avoid a clog is to make sure you flush the disposal with plenty of water when it is grinding and for 30 seconds afterward. Then occasionally maintain your disposal by regularly grinding up pieces of lemon peel and ice cubes. - Courtest of Pike Plumbing, The Trusted Kennesaw Plumbers.

Toilet Flushing Problem
One of the most common toilet problems not flushing right, is having to hold the flush pedal down continuously to flush the toilet. Fortunately this is an easy prblem to fix.

The Problem:
This is caused by too much slack in the lifting chain which attaches the flush pedal to the flapper ball. When the chain has too much slack, it cannot lift the flapper ball high enough to let it float on top of the water in the tank and it closes early, therefor stopping the flush.

To fix:
You can fix this problem easily, simply adjust the chain length so there is about 1/2 inch of slack. If the leftover chain hangs down too far and interferes with any part, trim the leftover chain length.

Frozen Water Pipes
Beware the unexpected cold snap or below freezing temperatures. Frozen water pipes are a serious risk during very cold winter weather. When water freezes in a pipe the water expands and can exert pressure of over 2,000 pounds per square inch. This pressure is enough to rupture most any pipe filled with water which provides you with a frozen or bursted pipe.

If and when the pipe bursts it will flow several hundred gallons of water per hour, and that equates to thousands of dollars of damage to your home.

Risky Locations
Pipes are most susceptible to freezing when located:

• In an outside wall;
• Under a sink on an outside wall;
• In an unheated crawlspace.
• Shed/barn Plumbing
  

Frozen But Not Burst? Then It's Thaw Time!
In the situation where your pipe is frozen but not yet ruptured, you need to promptly thaw it out. There are several ways to thaw a frozen pipe:

- Hair Dryer

- Electric Pipe Heat Tape

- Small Portable Heater

- Heat Lamp

Warning: Never use a flame torch because of the fire hazard it creates. Open flame torches are the most common cause of pipe thawing related home fires.

Clogged Sinks:
At some time most likely one of your sinks will become clogged. If just this sink seems clogged and you're not having trouble with other drains slowly draining, then the problem is probably local with this sink drain and not with the main sewer drainage line in your home, which is good news.

Boiling Away the Clog,
You can boil water and pour it down the sink to help loosen up the debre in the drain. Don't use boiling water if you have plastic PVC pipes as water over 175 degrees Fahrenheit can soften several types of PVC pipe possibly loosening joints (water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit).

Plunging the Problem,

• First, if this is a lavatory sink, seal the sink overflow hole found at the top of the sink bowl. Use a piece of duct tape or a wet rag or washcloth stuffed into the holes. NOTE: If you have just tried the boiling water approach you may have to add some cold water to cool the water in the sink down because the very hot water now in the sink may condensate on the porcelain around the overflow, preventing the duct tape from sticking until the porcelain cools off.
• If a kitchen sink or similar kind, remove the basket strainer.
• If a lavatory sink, remove the drain stopper from the sink. Try lifting it out or turning and lifting.
• Fill the sink bowl halfway with water.
• Place the cup plunger over the drain hole and make sure it has a good seal against the sink surface.
• Using quick, sharp plunges, attempt to clear the obstruction with the plunger and check for draining.

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