Whether you own a restaurant, a manufacturing plant, or even a medical office, a clean drainage system is important. Using truly eco-friendly cleaning products to keep your drains clean helps maintain healthy air quality in your business, keeps your employees and customers safe and protects local water bodies from harmful substances. Read on to learn more about the importance of drain cleaning and how to maintain clean drains in your business.
Why Clean Drains Are Important
For many business owners, drainage systems go completely unnoticed until there’s a problem, but maintaining clean drains is an essential part of running a business. Often, the first sign is a foul smell, which starts in the drain but could quickly spread to other parts of your business, affecting not just employees but patrons as well. The smell is often caused by a buildup of fats, oils, and greases – “FOG” – which can also become a breeding ground for pests and insects like flies, something you wouldn’t want your customers to see.
In addition to smells and insects, which are often hard to ignore, the drains in your business could also be harboring some unseen dangers. Over time, bacteria like salmonella, listeria, and even E. coli can spread. For businesses where sanitation is of the utmost importance, like manufacturing and food processing plants, a dirty drain could lead to contamination and costly shutdowns. When drains are clogged or slow to drain, mold may also grow, which greatly reduces air quality and may leave employees and patrons sick.
How to Initially Clean Drains
When foul odors begin to waft from the drain or insects start appearing, it’s important to act quickly to clean your business’s drains. The initial cleaning method, however, may vary based on the type of drainage system and the severity of the cleaning. Often, an environmentally friendly drain cleaning product that focuses on dissolving FOG and debris may be all that is needed to eliminate odors and the buildup of bacteria and mold. You may also want to use a snake to loosen any stubborn clogs down the line. Be sure to clean and sanitize drain covers as well, as those may also become a breeding ground for mold and bacteria.
If it has been a long time since your last drain cleaning or if you are experiencing a backup in your drains, you may need to contact a professional drain cleaning service. Some service providers utilize closed circuit video cameras to inspect your pipes and locate any blockages. Highly pressurized water may also be used to flush the drainage system and break up any clogs.
How to Keep Drains Clean Through Regular Maintenance
It’s easier to maintain a clean drain than to wait until an emergency occurs. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps to keeping your drains clean:
- Don’t dump harsh chemicals down the drain. This can damage the good bacteria needed to maintain a healthy drainage system. Not to mention, the negative impact this can have on local water bodies.
- Make sure that restaurant and food processing grease traps are cleaned regularly so that FOG doesn’t make its way into the main drain.
- Use a drain screen to keep hair, large food particles and other items out of the drain.
- Clean drain covers and sink stoppers regularly to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria.
- Monitor your business’s bathrooms often and clear clogged toilets as soon as they occur.
- Use an environmentally friendly drain cleaner regularly.
Benefits of Using Green and Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Nothing is more important to a business than the health and safety of its employees and customers. Truly eco-friendly cleaning products are usually made of all-natural ingredients that are safe for both people and animals. Unlike chemical cleaners high in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), there’s no harsh smell and air quality will not be affected. Natural products are safe for use in manufacturing plants, restaurants and medical settings as well. In addition, most green products are non-flammable and safe to store on site.
Not only are green products safer than their chemical counterparts, they can also be more effective. Natural drain cleaners may contain microbes that fully dissolve fats, oils, and greases while maintaining the natural balance of bacteria within the drain. Unlike chemical cleaners, environmentally friendly products won’t damage pipes over time, either.
Further, even after leaving the wastewater treatment plant, chemicals flushed down drains can persist and enter surrounding water bodies, disrupting the fragile ecosystems that live there. Using green cleaners allows you to be a good steward of the Earth and maintain your drains guilt-free.
Cleaning Drains and Keeping Them Clean
Your employees and customers may never notice when your drains are clean, but they’ll certainly notice when they’re not. Avoid foul odors and unsightly bugs, as well as dangerous buildups of mold and bacteria, by ensuring that your drains are clean. Use an environmentally friendly drain cleaner often and sanitize drain covers and sink stoppers as well. In addition, avoid dumping chemicals or grease down the drain and use drain screens to prevent clogs. Selecting green cleaning products helps maintain good air quality, keeps your employees and customers safe, and is a win for the planet too.
About the Author
Jason Rector is the president of Aqua Pro, a supplier of BioOne, a bacterial based drain cleaner & septic tank maintenance solution. Approved by the EPA as a Safer Choice alternative, BioOne works in a wide range of applications, including leach fields, grease traps, pump stations and piping systems. BioOne’s unique formula is 100% pet & pipe safe, utilizing organic components. Jason recognized that consumers want products they feel good about. Aqua Pro is committed to connecting consumers with those products.
