Properly disposing of kitchen fat, oil and grease is essential for protecting your home’s pipes and avoiding major drain and sewer issues. While pouring oil and grease down the kitchen sink may not seem like a big deal, it will almost always lead to major headaches down the road.
Safely Disposing of Oil and Grease
Even if you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen sink, you should make sure that any type of fat, oil and grease goes into the trash. When dealing with something like bacon grease, you can either pour it out into a heat-proof container or just let it cool and solidify in the pan and then scrape it all into the trash can. Once you’ve scraped out all of the grease, you should then use paper towels to wipe up as much of the remaining grease as you possibly can. Occasionally rinsing a small amount of fat, oil or grease off your dishes or pans isn’t a major concern. However, you should always make sure to first wipe off anything that is overly oily or greasy before rinsing it or putting it in the dishwasher.
Why You Should Never Pour Oil and Grease Down the Drain
Over time, pouring oil and grease down the drain can end up causing a serious issue that plumbers often refer to as a FOG (fat, oil, grease) clog. What happens is that oil and grease tend to stick to the inside of drains and the home’s main sewer line. Although many people mistakenly believe that washing the oil and grease down the drain with plenty of hot water will ensure it doesn’t stick to their pipes, this isn’t the case.
No matter how much hot water you flush down the drain, it won’t have any effect since oil and grease aren’t water soluble. They just end up floating on the water and clinging to the sides of your pipes. You’ll end up with a sticky layer of fat, oil and grease continually building up inside the pipes. Other solid materials like food scraps, toilet paper and hair that go down your drains and toilets often end up getting trapped in this layer and creating a blockage or obstruction. The fat layer can also build up to the point where it essentially chokes off any pipes so that they drain extremely slowly and end up clogging.
The worst issue is when this clog occurs at your main sewer line, which could eventually lead to a sewage backup inside your house. You’ll end up with wastewater and raw sewage overflowing out of any floor and shower drains on the bottom floor of your house. In some cases, you may even have a toilet that backs up and overflows.
Another issue is that the water and waste often end up flowing through the pipe with more pressure. This can create a risk of the pipe bursting or cracking and causing a flood inside your house or out in your yard. Should this happen, you’ll be facing a steep repair bill and also potentially needing to repair quite a bit of water damage to your home.
Other Tips for Avoiding Drain and Sewer Issues
Fat, oil and grease obviously aren’t the only things that can contribute to drain and sewer issues. That’s why you should make sure that you’re careful about what you put down your drains and flush down your toilets. Washing a bit of food scraps down the drain occasionally isn’t much of a problem, but you should still always make sure to scrape your dishes before rinsing them. Scraping isn’t necessary if you have a garbage disposal as long as you have it running when rinsing the dishes off. Nonetheless, it’s important not to overload your garbage disposal or put any starchy foods into it, or else there’s still an increased risk of your plumbing clogging up. You should also never pour coffee grounds down the sink since they can easily clump up inside the drain and lead to it clogging.
Being extra careful about what you flush down the toilet is even more important for preventing drain and sewer clogs. One issue that plumbers frequently encounter is a pipe that is clogged with wet wipes and/or feminine hygiene products since many people believe these things are safe to flush. One issue with these products is that many manufacturers market them as being flushable, but this term doesn’t mean what you may think. All it means is that they should get flushed down the bowl without clogging the toilet. The problem is that water flows through your pipes much faster than these types of solid materials, which can result in them getting stuck before they get flushed out into the sewer main underneath the street. Even paper towels and tissues can end up getting stuck and causing a clog since they don’t really break down when flushed like toilet paper does. Other things to avoid flushing include cotton pads, condoms, cat litter and really everything else other than toilet paper and human waste.
What to Do and Not to Do When Dealing With Drain Issues
If your sewer line clogs and starts backing up, it’s essential that you not use your plumbing at all until you can have a plumbing company clean out the pipe. Once a sewer line starts backing up, you can be certain that you’ll end up with more wastewater flowing out in your home any time you flush a toilet or take a shower.
You can sometimes overcome issues with a clogged toilet or drain fairly easily by plunging the fixture. If you have a pipe snake, you can also try running it down the drain to see if you can break through and clear the clog. However, we usually wouldn’t recommend doing this unless you know exactly what you’re doing since you could end up damaging the drain pipe or toilet and causing a much bigger problem.
The one thing that plumbers never recommend is trying to clear the clog with drain cleaner. Chemical drain cleaners contain extremely harsh acidic or alkaline chemicals, either of which are corrosive enough that they can start eating through drain pipes. Alkaline chemicals are usually the worst offender since most of them produce a strong chemical reaction when they get wet, which results in an extreme amount of heat being produced that can cause pipes to warp and start coming loose.
Cal’s Plumbing has been providing exceptional plumbing services in Tucson since 1948 and is the company to trust if you’re experiencing any drain or sewer issues or need any other plumbing service. We offer prompt, reliable service and our team ensures that all work we perform is done to the highest possible standards. Whether you’re dealing with a clog and need drain cleaning or need any other repair or installation service, such as a water heater or water filtration, contact us today.
