When it comes to taking care of your drains, you want to be very careful about what you allow to rinse down your sinks. Your kitchen sinks are especially susceptible to food particles being rinsed down the drain. And even if you have a garbage disposal, there are some food items that should never enter your drains.
Things like fats, oils and grease can stick to the sides of your plumbing and attract more debris to create a clog. Then you’ll be left scheduling a drain cleaning service in Bucks County, PA. You can keep reading to learn how to easily avoid drain clog by understanding what to do with fats, oils and grease instead.
Preventing Clogs
It can be very tempting to pour fats, oils and grease down your sink when you are finished with them. But this is actually a very bad idea. You should avoid allowing grease to go down your sink at all – even if you have a garbage disposal. Many homeowners think that if they run hot water and pour soap down the drain alongside the fat or grease, that they won’t have any problems. But further into your plumbing system, this grease can harden up again and cause clogs. Plus, fats leave behind a residue that coats the inside of your pipes and attracts debris, which also contributes to clogs.
Addressing Clogs
If you do suspect that you have a clog, give our team a call. You may be tempted to try and bust up this clog yourself, but that can cause more harm to your plumbing. After all, the go-to solution for fixing clogs is to buy a chemical drain cleaner. However, these harsh chemicals can harm your plumbing as they break down very tough clogs.
Sure, the pipes in your plumbing system are very strong, but harsh chemicals can introduce corrosion, which causes your pipes to break down faster. Instead, you want to leave clogs to the professionals. Sometimes we can use a snake tool to stick into your drains and break down clogs. Other times, we can use techniques like hydro jetting to break down clogs without doing any damage.
How to Dispose of Fats, Oils and Grease
So, what are you supposed to deal with fats, oil and grease if you don’t pour them down the drain? If you have a small amount of grease in a pan, allow it to cool and then place a few paper towels in the pan to absorb the oil, afterward disposing of the paper towels in your trashcan. You can also buy containers that are designed to store used oil for disposal. Keep in mind that you always want to allow grease to cool down completely before transferring it out of a hot pan.
If some grease does enter your kitchen sink’s drain, keep it in mind for when you schedule your next plumbing maintenance appointment. Our team may ask questions to help us know what types of plumbing services you need during a maintenance appointment. If we know that grease or other food debris went down your drain at some point, we can do some troubleshooting to make sure you don’t have any clogs developing.
Carney Plumbing Heating & Cooling does what’s right for our customers. Schedule an appointment today for plumbing service.