The drain in your kitchen sink is one of the most important fixtures in your home. You may not appreciate it. You likely don’t even think about it very often. But if your drain becomes clogged or otherwise stops working, it will make the entire kitchen difficult to use. Avoid this hassle by treating your drain right.
Drain Dangers: What Should You Avoid?
It’s inevitable that some food particles will end up going down the drain. You can use a drain trap to reduce the issue, but some will still get through. Small bits don’t present a serious problem, but there are certain materials you should avoid putting down the drain at all costs.
1. Fats, Grease, and Oil
These materials create what’s known in the plumbing world as FOG. The acronym represents the thick substance that results from greasy materials going down the drain and entering the sewage system. The grease can clog the pipes in your home or continue through the sewers to cause worse problems.
Any food that contains grease or oil can produce FOG. Therefore, it’s important to keep these foods away from the kitchen sink. Such foods include melted butter, olive oil, cream, and the grease from cooked meat like bacon. Also be careful about oil-containing foods you might not have considered, such as salad dressing.
To keep grease from going down the drain, toss oily scraps and sauces into the garbage instead. You can freeze meat grease and reuse it to make gravies or sauces. You can also let it cool and harden before scraping it into the trash.
2. Coffee Grounds, Egg Shells, and Other Food Products
It isn’t only oily foods that pose a danger to your drain. Other foods and byproducts can also build up in the pipes and cause a clog.
Coffee grounds are among the worst offenders. It may seem too convenient to dump them into the drain, but it’s not worth the hassle it may cause. Many people assume that because the grounds are small, they’ll wash away. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Coffee grounds can also cause damage to septic systems.
The same goes for eggshells and most other substances that consist of small, hard bits. While some of these bits do wash down, others get stuck and lead to larger clogs.
Another thing to consider are produce stickers. Some people cut them off and toss the attached piece of fruit away, which is ideal. If you peel them off, be sure to put them in the trash instead of washing them down the sink. They can stick to the inside of your pipes or travel to the water treatment facility and cause damage there.
3. Chemical Drain Clearing Agents
Your kitchen sink has a clog. You head to the store, buy a chemical drain agent, and head home to remove the clog. It sounds easy enough, right?
Most things that seem too easy usually are. While these chemical agents can sometimes help to remove a clog, they are bad for both your drains and the environment. They can corrode the inside of your pipes. Sometimes, they mix with other household cleaners and end up creating dangerous chemicals or gases. They also don’t always work. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending money on a product to clear your drain and having it fail.
Instead of using a chemical agent, contact a professional from Tip Top Drain Pros & Plumbing Experts. We’re the Encino plumbing team that guarantees a 60-minute response time. Let us unclog your drain, and you’ll soon be back to enjoying your kitchen.
