The toilet is one of the most important plumbing fixtures at home. But some people do not give this critical fixture the respect it deserves. They dump all kinds of waste in the toilet and end up undermining its functionality and longevity. Bad flushing habits can affect your home plumbing system severely. You will suffer plumbing emergencies and disasters frequently and incur heavy financial losses. We have repeated countless times in this blog that the toilet should only be used to dispose human waste and tissue paper. You should never flush anything else in your toilet. Paper towels, napkins, dirty diapers, and feminine hygiene products should never go down your toilet. All these items should be disposed in your garbage bin or any other designated container. Adopting proper and responsible flushing habits is very important to ensure the functionality and durability of your toilet and of your home plumbing system as a whole. Here are 4 important reasons why you should use your toilet properly.
Toilet clogs are very common. Minor toilet clogs can be handled with a plunger. You simply put the plunger in the toilet and perform the up and down motion moves until the clog is cleared. You can also use a plumber's snake to unclog the toilet. Most toilet clogs are caused by poor flushing habits. The toilet drain pipe is usually clogged by solid waste materials that have been dumped in the toilet. And although some of this solid waste can be dislodged easily with a plunger or a plumber's snake, some can cause very serious toilet clogs. The accumulation of this solid waste in your drainage and sewer system can also cause a serious sewer line clog deep in your sewer system. Such a clog requires professional plumbing services. Sewer line clogs require underground DC camera inspections whereby the plumber inserts a remote controlled waterproof video camera in your sewer lines to identify the cause and position of the clog. Serious toilet clogs can cause sewer backups.
Improper flushing habits waste a lot of water. Remember that the toilet consumes almost 25% of all water used in your house. And this is when the toilet is being used properly. Now consider improper toilet use. If you try to flush anything else except human waste and tissue paper in your toilet, you will be forced to flush several times. This leads to water wastage. Also, unclogging a toilet wastes water. The water that you keep pouring to see whether the clog is dislodged all goes to waste. You can avoid wasting all this water by using the toilet properly.
You will spend a lot of money on plumbing repairs if you keep flushing the wrong stuff in your toilet. If you suffer these serious toilet clogs frequently, you will be paying plumbers all the time. And as mentioned above, serious toilet clogs can cause sewer backups. Sewer backups can flood your bathroom and even damage the floors.
A serious sewer line clog can affect the municipal sewer system. You can damage the sewer system in your neighborhood if you keep flushing solid waste in your toilet. Not to mention that improper flushing habits can also damage the environment because some f these products are not meant to be disposed in a sewerage treatment plant.