At Lutz Plumbing, our plumbers have cleared thousands of clogged sewer lines and toilets across Kansas City, and a lot of the time, when we find a clog, we find “flushable” wet wipes or sanitary wipes. These supposedly flushable baby wipes clog toilets and pipes, and we diagnose and repair the damage every single week. Because of this, we want you to avoid the same plumbing fate. In this article, we will show you exactly why flushable baby wipes don’t break down and the types of damage those wipes cause.
The “Flushable” Lie: Why Wipes Don’t Break Down
Toilet Paper vs. Wipes
When you put toilet paper into your toilet, it immediately starts to break down. This is especially true for septic-safe toilet paper, which is manufactured to break down in as little as a few seconds. Thicker toilet paper takes longer, but even thick toilet paper usually dissolves within a few minutes to a few hours. The reason toilet paper dissolves fast is because it’s manufactured with short cellulose fibers, which are usually made from wood pulp, cotton, hemp and bamboo.
Flushable wipes, on the other hand, are often made of synthetic materials, like polyester and polypropylene, which are plastics. Not to mention, wipes are meant to be wet, which means they are specifically designed not to break down. Some wet wipes can take years to completely break down.
The Clog Snowball Effect
Drain lines and sewer pipes are not perfectly smooth. They have rough spots, especially at the seams and joints, and baby wipes can get stuck on those rough edges. Once the wipe gets stuck, it can attract other bits of debris, like large food particles, grease and hair, until it creates a massive clog. For this reason, we don’t recommend flushing baby wipes or any type of wet wipes down your toilet.
The Damage We See Every Day
Clogged Toilets and Home Backups
Baby wipes clog toilets, and those clogs can be difficult to remove, even if you use a plunger. In fact, using a plunger on a wet wipe clog may make the situation worse by pushing it farther down the pipe, and if that wipe completely blocks the pipe, it could cause sewage to back up into your Kansas City home.
Main Sewer Line Blockages
Just because the flushed wet wipe flows beyond the walls of your home doesn’t mean you’re free from risk. Wet wipes can get stuck in the sewer pipe. Your home’s sewer pipe is what connects your residential drain system to the municipal wastewater system. Now, imagine a tough clog in the sewer pipe running through your yard. In order to get to the clog, plumbers often have to bring in heavy equipment to clear vegetation and dig down to the pipe to clear the tough clog. However, in some cases, tough clogs can be cleared via hydrojetting, but that may just push the problem into the city sewer system.
Damage to City Sewer Systems
Baby wipes have been known to cause millions of dollars in damage to municipal water treatment systems. As the non-biodegradable wipes make their way through the system, they can get stuck in pumps and other equipment, where they damage and even break the water treatment pumps and equipment. All of this increases the city’s cost to maintain its water treatment system.
The “3 P’s” Rule of Flushing
Do you know the three “P’s” of flushing? The three P’s of flushing include pee, poo and paper, meaning toilet paper. Those are the only things you should ever flush down your toilet. Everything else should be thrown into the trash.
If you want to protect your drains from clogs and your wallet from expensive repairs, always remember that baby wipes clog toilets, drainpipes, and sewer lines. You should never flush them down your toilet or put them down any other drain, even if they say they are flushable. This is because it can take baby wipes a long time to decompose. Instead, toss all wet wipes in the trash.
If you have a stubborn clog in your drainpipe, toilet or sewer line, call our plumbing professionals at Lutz Plumbing in Kansas City. We have the right tools and equipment to safely and completely clear the clog. Contact us today to schedule a service call.