The holidays are coming up, and that means you might be spending more time in the kitchen, cooking, and cleaning and enjoying the extra time with your loved ones. Unfortunately, the holidays are also the time when drain clogs become much more likely. With all of those people in the home, many items that don’t really belong in the drains can end up in the pipes.
We want to help minimize your holiday drainage disruptions. Here are four things you should absolutely avoid putting into the kitchen drains, even if you have a good garbage disposal in place.
#1: Non-foods and hard food items
If it’s not something you would be able to break up with your teeth, it doesn’t belong in the garbage disposal! That includes trash, of course, like paper and plastic products. It also includes seeds, fruit pits, and meat bones. Your garbage disposal uses impellers, not blades, to break up food items, and it is simply unable to properly process these things.
#2: Fibrous foods
Anything that is too fibrous or stringy can cause problems for your garbage disposal. This includes things like celery, which could wrap around the impellers and jam the garbage disposal motor. Other stringy food items include onion skins and corn husks.
#3: Fats, oils, and grease
Fats, oils, and grease are so bad for your drains, though you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at them. When you pour grease down the drains, it’s likely because you’ve just finished cooking and the grease is still in liquid form. But once it cools down, it turns into a sticky solid substance that clings to the pipe lining and is the source of most kitchen drain clogs.
#4: Chemical drain cleaner
If you’re looking for a way to clear the drains, don’t buy toxic, dangerous chemical drain cleaners, which can damage the insides of the pipes. A sink plunger may be able to unclog a drain, and baking soda followed up with vinegar can clean and eliminate odor. For major clogs, however, you should seek the help of a plumber for professional drain cleaning.
Contact Continental Plumbing Services, LLC for garbage disposal services in New Port Richey, FL. We’ve served the area for over 25 years!