The plumbing system you installed recently looks fairly stable, but how efficient it remains depends on the care and treatment you give it. According to most professional plumbers, any plumbing system remains healthier for longer when professional maintenance is embraced. The plumbing pipes will easily expose you to a world of headache if you are a person who always upholds do-it-yourself practices. Even a plumbing problem that looks the slightest will be a nightmare to you within a short time if you ignore a professional approach and don't shy away from habits and practices that are unfriendly to your plumbing system. Here are some of the practices that any professional plumber advises homeowners to avoid to keep their plumbing system healthier and more efficient:

Your Garbage Disposal Isn't a Garbage Bin

Your garbage disposal isn't a place for every food item in your house. While the garbage disposal is a place for household wastes, you shouldn't dispose of some items in it if you want it to run more efficiently and have an extended lifespan. Pasta oil, eggshells, bones, fruit pits, celery, fibrous vegetation, coffee grounds and vegetable peels are some of the things that shouldn't go to your garbage disposal since it doesn't treat such things. For instance, pasta swells up when it mixes with water and becomes a gummy substance that will soon shut down the entire garbage disposal. Bones can make the blades of the garbage disposal blunt, causing some serious drain issues.

Disposing of Liquid Through a Bathtub Drain

Though your plumbing system looks complex, it's more fragile than you thought. Not every liquid should access your bathtub drain. The oil, grease, chemicals and dumpling cleaners you let down your bathtub drain will soon release pungent toxic fumes. Most professional plumbers assert that such substances clog the bathtub drain and they damage your drain pipe completely if a plumber doesn't unclog it in good time. Conditioner, body wash, soapy bathwater and shampoo are friendly to your bathtub drain, but the cooking grease and sugary beverages are not.

Fixing the Problems Yourself

Most homeowners won't experience serious plumbing problems if they allow competent plumbers to maintain their plumbing systems and fix the problems that develop. Most people make plumbing problems worse when fixing them on their own. It seems a good way to evade some costs, but it attracts more costs instead. Someone who doesn't understand the plumbing network fully or without the required tools and skills shouldn't handle plumbing problems.

Your plumbing system will run to the last day of its lifespan if the above practices and others such as improper toilet flushing are shunned. Avoid the habits and practices that attract complex plumbing issues to your complex plumbing system. Don't say that a plumber should only fix a major problem. Most major plumbing problems occur when the minor plumbing issues are neglected or denied a professional approach.

To learn more, contact a plumber near you.