What is the Point of Toilet Traps and Drains?

Have you ever dropped an earring down the drain or flushed your keys down the toilet? Toilet traps and drains are designed to alleviate the stress associated with these common mistakes by helping to catch small items before they make their way into the sewer line. Throughout the years, plumbers have found a number of strange and unexpected items in toilet traps and drains.

A p-trap is designed to catch any item that may cause a clog before it becomes a serious problem. It can also help when an item is accidentally dropped down the drain. Typically, you can either see the drain on the backside of the toilet bowl or under the bathroom or kitchen sink. You can easily see the shape and curve of the drain where the water exits. The drains usually have a U or S shape to them, which helps to catch small items, while preventing sewer gas from escaping into the home.

Plumbers are used to dealing with strange and unusual items dropped down the drain. However, for common problems, such as having your keys flushed down the toilet, the p-trap should be able to catch the item so that you can easily pull them out using a drain snake or bent wire hanger.

Keeping Your Drain Well Maintained

Drains help to provide a trap for the water by creating a seal that keeps sewer gas out of the home. If you are not using any drain in your home, it is still important to keep the drain well maintained.

A plumbing trap should constantly hold some water and you can accomplish this by simply running water in the drain when you are not using it to fill the trap back up with water. This will help to prevent the sewer gas smells from perpetrating your home. Most plumbers recommend doing this on a weekly basis to help prevent a problem.

Can Drain Cleaning Products Help?

Typical drain cleaning products will actually do more harm than good. They can make a problem worse by causing long-term damage that is costly to repair. Instead, choose an affordable enzyme-type drain cleaning treatment found at your local plumbing company.

Call a Plumber

If you have caused a drain clog by flushing a large item down the toilet or dropping a harmful item in the drain, then it is important to call a professional Roto-Rooter right away. They can quickly provide effective solutions that you can count on.