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How to Clear Drain Clogs After the Holidays from Your Durham NC Plumber

December 29th, 2011

Most of the family has cleared out of the house and preparations are underway for New Year’s celebrations with friends. The season’s festivities undoubtedly will put a strain on your plumbing, particularly your drains. Your Durham NC drain clog experts at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing are here to help with some preventative maintenance. If the problem becomes too great then Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is the preferred plumber in the Durham area.

Water is not the only thing pouring down our pipes and drains. This is the main cause of drain clogs and being aware of what things are being put into your drains is an important part of knowing how to best proceed in clearing the clog. The kitchen sink is the most used drain in your home and anything from small food items, leftovers, cooking oils and grease, and non-food items are put into our garbage disposal or sink. Bathroom drains in the shower or toilet present a different kind of problem with anything from clumped hair, toilet paper, and anything kids might put down the drain.

For serious clogged drains, call the experts at your Durham NC plumber, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, for professional service. For mild drain clogs, remove the stopper or strainer and remove any objects you find before pouring hot water down the drain. Usually, hot water can solve slight clogs as the heat will loosen any clumping.

If hot water does not work or if you’re dealing with a toilet drain, a plunger should be used. It is a good idea to keep a plunger in each of your toilet areas and bathrooms as you never know when you will need one. If you are comfortable with a sewer snake or auger, one of these plumbing drain cleaners should be the course of action after a plunger fails. Always call a professional plumber at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing if you are uncomfortable cleaning your own drain. Often it is best to let a professional handle it so as not to make matters worse leading to more costly plumbing repairs.

Some best practices to prevent drain clogs from happening are bullet pointed below:

Avoid dumping food, grease, and coffee grounds into your sink drain
Install sink strainers and sink stoppers in drains and consistently clean them
Run cold water in your garbage disposal while using it to chop up food
Never flush paper towels or non-toilet paper products down the toilet
Pour hot water down drains often to prevent buildup in pipes

Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, your Durham plumbing company, at 919-408-7200 or visit their website for more information and to schedule service.

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Durham NC Drain Clog Prevention for the Holidays

December 21st, 2011

Many large meals will be cooked over the holidays with family in town and it is important to keep in mind the strain one can put on drain pipes. Fat from cooking, oil, grease, leftover food, bone scraps, and many other thick and congealing substances will be tossed down the sink drain without a care. Your Durham NC drain cleaning experts at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing want to remind you of a few things before you scrape off your plate or dump your leftover oils into your drain pipes.

Much of the traditional holiday food menu contains fatty oils and grease. Items such as roasted chicken, pie, cookie dough, sauces and gravy, oils, butter, and steak juices have clog creating substance. Water can’t carry all of these substances down the sink drain pipes and too much of them will create a major backup.

Also, some of these oils are not environmentally friendly, aside from the danger of clogging your drain. In most cities and metropolitan areas, you can take up to 10 gallons to local landfill’s that have household and hazardous waste collection facilities. Check your local Durham NC city website to find where these landfills are located. Oils are often reused in an environmentally friendly way and recycled to make another usable product.

Your local Durham NC plumber at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing most likely has family of his own in town over the holidays. And while emergency plumbing service is offered, following these simple steps to keep your plumbing draining smoothly over the holidays can’t hurt:

Do not dump cooking oils and grease into sink drains
Food scraps should be put into a plastic trash bag
Cooking grease should be cooled and then scraped into trash bags
“Unflushables” such as baby wipes, diapers, rags, paper towels, toilet bowel cleaning pads, hygiene products and anything that will not breakup or dissolve in water should not be flushed down the toilet

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, your Durham NC plumbing maintenance specialists, can provide you with drain cleaning service should you have trouble this holiday season. Give them at call at 614-344-4325 or visit them online to schedule plumbing service now.

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Chapel Hill NC Drain Cleaning from Ben Franklin Plumbing

October 14th, 2011

Clogged drains in your kitchen or bathtub or sink are common occurrences and can quickly put a halt to your normal routine. Drain cleaning service from your Chapel Hill NC plumbing company, Ben Franklin Plumbing, can alleviate any problems you have and prevent stoppage from becoming an issue again.

Many store bought drain cleaners will only temporarily prevent drain clogs and for heavy buildup, often can’t handle the job. Your Chapel Hill plumber, Ben Franklin Plumbing, will use professional services like drain snaking, hydro jetting, and video camera inspection to find the root cause of your clogged drain. Clogged drains can become worse over time, often due to material buildup that continues to collect, so it is essential that you relieve these issues as soon as you notice water buildup.

One of the most common causes of household drain clogs is grease, soap, and hair buildup. Manmade obstructions from unacceptable items not meant for residential pipes and drains are often flushed or dropped in sinks. These unwanted items cause major backups more quickly and need to be addressed as soon as possible. With the punctual plumber promise, Ben Franklin Plumbing is your Chapel Hill drain cleaning service of choice. Emergency drain cleaning service, available 24 hours a day, is just a phone call away.

Drain snaking is one of the most common and effective approaches to clearing clogged drains. Hydro jetting clean tougher buildups with high pressure water making sure the walls of the pipe are also clean. Video camera inspection can pinpoint the cause of a clogged drain with state-of-the-art cameras fed down the drain line to the source of the buildup. Video camera inspections can also confirm a drain is cleared after using other methods of unclogging the drain.

Do not hesitate to call a plumbing professional to clear your clogged drain. Schedule a drain cleaning with Ben Franklin Plumbing by visiting them online or calling 919.408.7200.

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Garbage Disposal Maintenance Tips

May 23rd, 2011

Routine maintenance on your garbage disposal is simple, quick and can keep your disposal running for an extended period of time. Use these home garbage disposal maintenance tips to help prevent odors, blockages, costly repairs, and early replacement.

Remember to run cold water during use for at least 20 seconds. Garbage disposals need water running through the pipes to flush waste and prevent stoppages.

Limit the amount of food you put in your garbage disposal at one time. Allowing too much food into the pipes, although chopped, can quickly cause them to back up. Should you encounter a clogged drain or clogged pipes, Ben Franklin Plumbing, your Durham NC plumber, is available for immediate plumbing service.

Avoid pouring harsh chemicals, foreign objects, coffee grounds, or bones into the garbage disposal. Also, grind small scraps of citrus peels in the garbage disposal to keep it smelling fresh.

Grinding ice cubes while running cold water in the garbage disposal will help sharpen the blades and keep it clean. Always call your local Durham plumbing company when routine residential plumbing maintenance is not enough.

The experts at Ben Franklin Plumbing are available 24/7 to help you with any plumbing repair or plumbing installation.

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Servicing the Following Cities

Servicing the Following Zip Codes

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