Can You Flush Wet Wipes Down The Toilet?

Wet wipes are probably one of the most highly appreciated inventions of the 20th century. Initially presented as a way to keep babies clean when changing their diapers, wet wipes have now become one of the most common toiletries in use. You can find them everywhere at home, inside your car and inside the bags that you take with you anywhere.

Convenient is perhaps the best way to describe wet wipes. It’s pretty handy, sanitary and easily disposable. The question that’s foremost on the minds of wet wipes users, however, is if flushing wet wipes down the toilet are okay. If an article published in the Washington Post is any indication, the answer is a resounding no.

Clogged Sewers are Becoming Common

According to the Washington Post article, clogged sewers are becoming common in the United States, and sewage authorities are blaming wet wipes for the obstructions. Manufacturers of wet wipes, however, are quick to retort and defend their product, saying they have all gone through newly streamlined tests that ensure that it is okay to flush wet wipes down the toilet.

The crews who clean up clogged sewers, however, may beg to disagree.

What Is a Fatberg?

It is common for the people who look after city water waste network of pipes to find what they call a ‘fatberg’, a mass of congealed, solidified grease and oil found in sewer pipes. These ‘fatbergs’ often start forming on sewer roofs. Over time, these sewer stalactites will keep on collecting and congealing more fat until they result in completely clogged sewers.

The thing with these ‘fatbergs’, however, is that they’re not all fat or grease. In London, sewage workers have found ‘fatbergs’ that have rolls of wet wipes that were never broken down by the water serving as the base. That means when these wet wipes were flushed down the toilet, they began collecting on joints. Fat and oils then started congealing on them until it becomes a ‘fatberg’, a sewer problem that has to be avoided to prevent clogged sewers from ever happening.

With wet wipes down the toilet being pointed out as a culprit in the creation of ‘fatbergs’ in London, the argument of wet wipes manufacturers that their products are flushable and safe for sewer and septic system goes down the drain.

Don’t Flush Wet Wipes Down the Toilet

With this information, we hope you will now avoid flushing wet wipes down your toilet. You don’t even have to see an actual ‘fatberg’ to see that it doesn’t easily break down in sewage water. Unlike your regular toilet paper, wet wipes are very tough and so much harder to tear up. You can try it for yourself if you don’t mind wasting a moist towelette or two. To be on the safe side, just avoid flushing wet wipes down your toilet, not even if the label says it is ‘flushable’. Better be safe than cause clogged sewers over time.

Aside from wet wipes, other products often marketed as “flushable” but can actually lead to pipe blockages include nappies, sanitary napkins and tampons. These products do not break down when in the sewage system, which is why you should  avoid flushing wet wipes down your toilet.

Then again, even if you do avoid flushing wet wipes down your toilet, there are still a number of different reasons clogged sewers happen. Should your toilet, for whatever reason, gets terribly blocked, just give us a call here at Beez Neez Plumbing and we’ll unclog it for you in the quickest and most efficient way possible.