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If I Clean Out My Own Blocked Drains At Home, What Should I Be Concerned With?

Health and Safety when Fixing Clogged Drains

Many people who clean blocked drain pipes professionally or do it for themselves in their own homes, don’t fully understand the hazards that can accompany this seemingly innocent undertaking. Catching an infectious disease or a viral infection can take the fun out of clearing a clogged toilet drain pretty quickly as well as provide you with an extended bed rest after a hard strenuous morning of cleaning out your own drain pipes. Some of the more common bad boys lurking in your plumbing pipes are:

• Staph infections, such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).
• Blood borne pathogens, such as HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. These little critters are microorganisms that transfer from an infected individual to another individual through blood or certain other body fluids.

How to Fix a Clogged Drain

If we haven’t convinced you yet that cleaning a clogged sink drain or a clogged toilet drain should be left up to the professionals, then you may want to follow our company guidelines:

1. Never touch a sewer cable with your bare hands. After unblocking your sink drain or toilet drain and definitely before you stop to eat lunch, you should wash your hands with a strong soap solution.
   
   
2. Should you cut yourself with the sewer cable or sewer machine while clearing a clogged drain, immediately wet the cut area with rubbing alcohol to stop any infection.
   
   
3. Wear medical latex or rubber gloves under a heavy-duty leather glove when operating the drain cleaning equipment. I find that the leather gloves will not get caught in the coils of the cable, but rubber, latex, or cloth will get caught. If you’re clearing a blocked toilet pipe with a ¾” cabled machine and your glove gets caught in the coils of the sewer cable, it could break your wrist.
   
   
4. Protect your eyes with approved safety glasses when operating drain cleaning equipment. Liquids or debris from the blocked drain pipe could splash into your eyes.
   
   
5. After you’ve finished cleaning the blocked sink drain or blocked toilet drain pipe, use a sewer cable detergent to clean the cable. The one I use is called “Snake Oil” and it not only cleans the cable but also prevents it from rusting.
   
   
6. When finished clearing the stopped up drain, clean the work area well with soap and water. Your significant other won’t appreciate coming home from a hard day at work and having to clean up what remains after a backed up plumbing drain.