How to Keep Cooking Grease From Clogging Your Plumbing

With the holiday season here, those greasy pots, pans, and casserole dishes will soon pile up. While pouring all that grease down the drain might seem like the fastest and easiest way to dispose of it, you could be creating a future clog for yourself that only a professional can remove.

Keep the following information in mind to avoid a plumbing fiasco caused by hardened grease in your drain pipes!

Grease Disposal

If you are ever tempted to pour the leftover oil in your frying pan down the drain, don’t! While you may have gotten lucky during the warmer months and not notice an immediate clog, that will certainly not pan out in the winter. During the colder months, it takes less time for grease to cool. Before you know it, that grease will solidify inside your plumbing pipes and create clogs.

Instead of trying to force grease and oil down your drains with hot water, dispose of oils in a sealable, foiled-lined container. Many people use spare mason jars to keep their used grease. Later, the grease can be composted or tossed in the appropriate garbage can.

Also, before washing greasy cookware, take a moment to wipe it down with a paper towel first. The paper towel will absorb a lot of the grease that would otherwise end up down your drain. When you do wash your cookware, use hot water and plenty of dish detergent to break up the grease as much as possible and help it move down your pipes.

Be Careful Where You Throw Your Scraps

If you have a garbage disposal, be careful about what food scraps go into it. While garbage disposals can break down greasy foods, much like pouring oil down your drain, the fatty foods can coat your pipes in stubborn gunk.

Even if you have no garbage disposal, avoid scraping your pan leftovers straight into the drain. Instead, put them in the garbage if they are not compostable. People tend to forget that clogs can take time to form, so while you may not notice a clog immediately if you throw greasy items down your drain, you are only giving yourself a big headache for the future.

What To Do If You Get a Clog from Hardened Grease

If you notice water draining slowly or gurgling in your plumbing, we recommend getting your drains cleaned to avoid clogs and hardened grease from damaging your pipes. Unattended clogs not only cause slow drainage and bad smells but can even cause pipe bursts if you’re not careful.

At The Plumbing Joint Inc., we’ll help get your drains running like new! Call (425) 228-3204 today!