Most homeowners deal with at least a small amount of cooking oil or grease each day when preparing meals. And it is easy to look at that small amount of grease or oil and decide to simply wash it down the sink drain. After all, you are using soap and hot to wash the pot or pan. So you assume that the grease will slip harmlessly through your drain and sewer pipes to the city sewer main. Won’t it?
The answer to that simple question is a resounding no. Think about placing a drop of grease-fighting dish soap into a pan of greasy water. The soap repels the grease and forces it to the edge of the pan. And in your drains, the same thing happens. The soap is pushing the oil out of the water and along the inside walls of your drain pipes. And as soon as the hot water is turned off, that grease begins to solidify and form a sticky residue. Soon, that scum will be snagging bits of debris and creating the next clog that will block your drain and could cause thousands of dollars in water damage.
Proper Grease And Oil Disposal
Washing grease and oil down the drain should never be an option in your home. Instead, these substances need to make their way to your trash receptacle. And there are a variety of safe and easy ways for that to happen.
A small amount of liquid oil or grease can be wiped out of cookware with a paper towel and then deposited into your trashcan. To avoid “wasting” a paper towel, you can also elect to allow the liquid to cool and become more solid. Then simply scrape the solid grease clump into the trash and wash the cookware.
For larger amounts of oil or grease, many homeowners opt to keep a jar handy for disposal of these liquids. Once the jar is full, it can be placed in the trash. It is also essential to check out the recycling services in your area to find out if there are locations where you can drop off used oil for a more earth-friendly disposal process.
Cooking Oil And Costly Clogs
Drain clogs are not only annoying because they always seem to happen when you are in a hurry and have no time to deal with them, but they can also be very costly. When you discover a slow clearing drain, that is the time to seek the help of the licensed plumbers at Metroplex Leak & Line by calling (214) 388-4525. If you wait, the clog is only going to get worse. And that means that you are getting closer and closer to a complete drain blockage and a flood of dirty water in your home. And that is when things begin to get expensive.
Professional clog removal and drain cleaning are not terribly expensive or time-consuming. But when you ignore the signs of a drain issue, a flood cannot be avoided. And once you have dirty water invading your home, your repair bill just skyrocketed. Damage to floors, walls, cabinetry, and your belongings are just the beginning. There can also be contamination from sewage and even the possibility of mold growth if the flood is not discovered quickly.
All of this might seem to be unrelated to dumping a little cooking oil down the kitchen sink drain. But the truth is that cooking oil and grease are two of the most common items to promote drain clogs in your home. Even with hot water and soap, the grease and oil will still end up stuck to your drain pipes. And as the residue buildup increases, the capacity of your drain lines decreases. Soon almost every particle that is washed down any drain in your home is becoming stuck in the residue and creating yet another clog.
The solution for eliminating costly drain backups and floods is twofold. First, never rinse grease or cooking oil down the drain. Dump it into a jar or wipe it out of cookware with a paper towel. And second, understand that regularly scheduled professional drain cleanings from the team at Metroplex Leak & Line will eliminate any clogs and the possibility of costly water damage from a flooded drain.
