Avoiding Grease Clogs

You can probably remember being told not to pour grease down the kitchen sink drain when you were a kid; most people have such memories. However, those childhood warnings haven’t stopped adults and children alike from pouring cooking grease down the kitchen sink. At Excalibur Plumbing, we get calls every week from people who have a clogged kitchen sink due to cooking grease that has accumulated and solidified in their pipes.

Most people have been told not to pour grease down the drain before, but they don’t think about when they do it, and because it doesn’t clog right away, they think that it’s “no big deal” or the warnings are simply exaggerated. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. As grease is poured down the drain, eventually it will lead to stubborn clogging and in serious cases, expensive repairs. Since kitchen sinks are a necessity, these clogs can’t be ignored.

Why Cooking Grease is Bad

Cooking grease comes from animal fats, such as bacon and ground beef and vegetable oils; these substances are left behind when we’re done the cooking. Grease is harmless when it doesn’t touch your kitchen sink, but once it’s poured down the drain and mixed with hot water, it solidifies inside the pipes when it cools down. This process is very similar to what happens in our bodies. When we consume too many dietary fats and hydrogenated oils, they can clog our arteries – it’s the same concept with kitchen grease and plumbing pipes.

Sometimes, we’re called out to homes where kitchen grease buildup did more than block the kitchen sink drain, it affected toilets, causing sewage to back up. Often, when sewage affects other parts of the home, it means expensive repairs.

Let’s this be a warning: When you continue to pour grease down the kitchen sink drain, it can block the line. Depending on the layout of the pipes, what started in the kitchen can lead to a nearby bathroom or laundry room, affecting those lines as well.

Need a Cedar Park plumber? Contact Excalibur Plumbing today!