The big question to ask here is HOW LONG is your faucet dripping? A leaking shower head may not actually be a problem with your plumbing.

The head of a shower is lower than the arm which extends from the shower wall. It’s the same as with a faucet, where the head of the faucet hangs below the handles. The water that has been coming out of the faucet or the shower head has a source above it. When you turn off the water, there is still some in the pipes that is going to want to come down. A ‘normal’ amount of time for a faucet or shower head to drip after it has been turned off is 3-5 minutes. If the water stops dripping within that time, don’t worry about it.

Now if your shower head is still dripping after 5 minutes, your shower head may need new washers. Additionally, if the water pressure is causing leaking through at the handles BEFORE the water comes up the shower and out at the shower head, then there may be a more serious plumbing issue. In that case, your expert resource for plumbing, heating, and air conditioning in York, Pennsylvania, Wilbur Henry, will be happy to help!

• Clean/scrape your plates properly before washing them or putting them in the dishwasher. Get all the grease and by-products off your plate so it doesn’t go down the drain.
• Flush your drain regularly by letting your hot water run for several minutes and pour some vinegar down the drain or pour a pot of boiled water with vinegar in it down the sink once a month.
• When using a garbage disposal, make sure you let it run long enough to get the grease and chopped-up food pushed through the sink line.

How grease creates clogs in the first place; as the grease heats up, either from cooking or from the hot water of washing dishes, it goes down your drain in liquid form. It’s a long way along that drain pipe though, and as the grease travels it starts to cool and solidifies. As it solidifies, it turns into the gooey mess that sticks to pipe walls and clogs your drain.

The Secret Is To Run A Lot Of Hot Water

The secret is to run a lot of hot water when doing dishes and periodically take some white vinegar and pour it down the sink with the water. The vinegar helps cut through the grease and flush it through and makes your sink smell better. Do this about once a month.

Thoroughly Run Your Garbage Disposal

Also, if you use a garbage disposal, most people don’t flush it long enough afterwards to get the grease and chopped up food pushed through the sink line. Let your disposal run for a moment as hot water runs through it after you are done using it. Flush with hot water, I just can?t say this enough. Proper maintenance of your drain and you won’t have to use harsh chemicals like Drain-o or have to call a plumber over a clogged sink. For other questions and tips, check out or contact Wilbur Henry, your one-stop shop for plumbing help!

The first and most important thing to remember – if you use Draino and it doesn’t work DO NOT use any other do-clogging agents until you contact a plumber. Draino is made with Hydrcholoric Acid. Most other professional pipe cleaning agents use Sulphuric Acid. Combining Hydrochloric and Sulphuric Acid is a great way to cause a pretty dramatic explosion. If you use Draino and it doesn’t work, call a plumber. We have seen dozens of customers have bad, even dangerous, results from layering chemicals.

A plumbing note for the future

Draino can be used in slow-running or sluggish drains but if you get to the point where you have standing water in a fully clogged sink, the odds of Draino working go way down. Not to mention that if Draino doesn’t work at this point, now you or your plumber will have to wade through a sink or tub full of harsh and potentially dangerous chemicals to get to that drain. I have had to stop working and take my boots off because the tub water was eating right through them. (On that note, please TELL your plumber is you have already put chemicals in the water!)

Bottom Line

If the sink is still clogged and you have used Draino, or another de-clogging agent, according to directions and recommended usage, it’s time to get a plumber in there with an auger and find out what is inside that drain. They can usually have your water running freely in no time. Contact Wilbur Henry plumbing experts for plumbing help when you need it, where you need it, and we’ll be there.