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Preventative drain cleaners prevent clogs and their associated issues, such as overflows. While knowing that you do not want your drain to overflow and spew sewage all over your floor is easy, it can be difficult to know whether drain cleaners are worth the investment.

At State Chemical, we provide industrial drain maintenance to customers across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. When we approach a potential customer, we repeatedly hear three concerns about preventative drain maintenance. Potential customers are concerned that (1) preventative drain cleaners are too expensive, (2) that they won’t be able to control the costs of preventative drain maintenance, and (3) that preventative drain maintenance cannot stop all clogs. This article walks through those concerns and solutions to alleviate them.

Preventative Drain Cleaners Prevent Overflows and Other Drain Issues

Preventative drain cleaners are chemical products that prevent clogs and their associated issues. Adding a proactive drain cleaner can prevent clogs, drain flies and roaches, foul odors, and most concerning, overflows. In an overflow, a drain blockage causes the sewage to leak out of the drain and onto your floor.

Many preventative drain cleaners contain bacteria. The bacteria slowly digest the fats, oils, and greases (FOGs) that flow down the drain line. In other words, the bacteria eat FOGs. By digesting the FOGs, the bacteria prevent them from forming a mass that will clog your drain.

The most effective way to use a preventative drain cleaner is on a dispensing pump. The pump slowly drips the chemical product into the drain so that there is a consistent amount of product in the drain at all times. The alternative is to dump a large amount of chemicals into the drain at one time. While this will improve the smell of your drain in the short term, it will not have the long-term impact of preventing drain issues.

Concern: Preventative Drain Cleaners are Too Expensive

Solution: Compare to Cost of Reactive Drain Care

The number one concern of our potential customers is cost. Many potential customers are concerned that preventative drain maintenance is too expensive. Adding a preventative drain cleaner to your drains involves an upfront cost. There is no getting around the fact that adding a drain maintainer adds expense each month.

However, most customers find that reactive drain care is more expensive than preventative drain care. We like to think of preventative drain cleaning as insurance – while you pay more upfront, it saves you from significant expenses in the future.

To decide if preventative drain care is right for you, compare the cost of preventative drain maintenance with the expenses you have faced and could face from reactive drain care. Preventative drain maintenance involves adding a chemical solution to your drains before a problem occurs to prevent problems, such as a clogged drain, in the future. Reactive drain care is responding to problems, such as overflows, after they occur.

The worst-case scenario of a drain clog is that the clog can overflow and cause sewage to leak all over your floor. For example, if you have a sewage leak in a restaurant, you must shut down the entire restaurant until you fix the clog and clean up the sewage. You cannot serve food while sewage is leaking onto your floor. This leads to an immense cost of repairing the problem and cleaning up the overflow, along with the lost profits of having to shut down.

Preventative drain care can prevent overflows and related expenses.

Concern: I Won’t Be Able to Control the Costs of Preventative Drain Cleaning

Solutions: Pick a Product Within Your Budget and Enter into a Maintenance Contract

Similar to the concern above, many of our clients are concerned that if they agree to preventative drain care, they will not be able to control the costs of such care. There are two solutions to this problem: (1) to pick a product within your budget and (2) to enter into a drain maintenance contract.

First, you should pick a product that works for your budget. Most drain care providers have multiple products for you to choose from. These products come at a variety of price points. You can work with your drain maintenance provider to select the best product for your budget.

Second, you should enter into a drain maintenance contract. In a drain maintenance contract, a provider agrees to provide regular drain maintenance. While drain maintenance contracts have pros and cons, one significant benefit is that your price is locked in. The contract often limits the ability of the provider to raise prices, meaning that you know in advance how much you will pay each month.

Concern: Preventative Drain Cleaning Cannot Stop All Clogs

Solution: Train Your Staff and Visitors on What Can and Cannot Be Put Down the Drain

Adding a preventative drain maintenance solution can prevent most, but not all, drain issues. Proactive drain cleaning will prevent most clogs and overflows from normal usage, but it will not stop certain items from clogging your drain. For example, if an individual puts a rag down the drain, that rag will still cause a blockage, even if you are using preventative drain maintenance.

We also see a lot of blockages in nursing homes. Residents in nursing homes will put diapers and wipes down the drain, which can cause a clog, even if you are using preventative drain maintenance.

To solve this issue, we recommend training your staff and visitors on what can and cannot be put down the drain. For your staff, we recommend holding a training session on how to properly dispose of various items. For visitors, you can hang signs in bathrooms and kitchens regarding what should and should not be put down the drain.

Summary: Preventative Drain Cleaner Concerns Can Be Alleviated

Like most of our potential customers, you are probably concerned about the expense and effectiveness of preventative drain maintenance. These concerns can be alleviated by comparing the cost of preventative drain maintenance with the cost of reactive drain care, picking a product within your budget, entering into a drain maintenance contract, and training your staff and visitors on what can and cannot be put down the drain.

Now that you’ve seen the solutions to customers’ three largest concerns around drain cleaners, let’s take a deeper dive into the specifics and learn about the pros and cons of these drain cleaners as they pertain to grease traps.