No matter what sort of cooking you do in your kitchen, you’re bound to use some sort of fat. In some cases, you’ll have grease left over from cooking certain kinds of meat or poultry. Used oil or grease also remains after you deep fry. You might be tempted to pour your leftover cooking fat down your kitchen sink, but doing so could spell disaster in the form of a clogged drain. Proper disposal of cooking fat saves you costly repair bills in the long term.
Why Shouldn’t I Pour Grease Down the Sink?
Many types of cooking fat, especially animal-based products, are liquid when hot. However, these same products solidify after cooling. Common culprits include:
However, some plant-based fats and oils are also solid at room temperature, including:
Any of these can congeal inside your plumbing and collect over time, contributing to incredibly horrible obstructions. Additionally, grease introduced into your garbage disposal slowly gathers over time, eventually creating clogs inside it as well.
Clogs Aren’t Limited to Your Kitchen Sink
You might think dumping used cooking fat down the drain only causes your kitchen sink to back up, but a blockage could produce trouble for other areas in your home. If your kitchen lines are connected to nearby pipes leading to your laundry room or bathroom, an obstruction could result in backed up drains in those rooms as well. In short, by dumping these lipids into your sink you could be creating an enormous problem affecting multiple areas in your dwelling. This “easy way out” creates both massive headaches and expensive bills from your plumber in the end.
The Chemistry Behind Fatty Drain Blockages
What’s even worse is that pouring grease down the sink generates even bigger problems beyond your home. When fat leaves your pipes and enters your septic tank or municipal sewers, it absorbs and combines with other chemicals. This results in huge, nasty masses of lipids and other substances that obstruct larger channels that take waste away from our neighborhoods, in the case of city sewage systems. For septic tanks, excessive oil and grease can cause the buildup of large clumps that shut the septic system quite completely. With your plumbing are dead in the water, you’re left with a horrid mess and colossally high repair bills to boot.
How Do I Discard my Leftover Fat, Oil, and Grease?
There are a couple of efficient methods to get rid of your leftover cooking lipids. If there’s just a thin layer of grease in your pot or pan, absorb it by wiping the inside and bottom with paper towels and pitch them out with your waste. For larger quantities, chose a non-recyclable container and transfer the substance into it once they’ve cooled down. Put the container in your household rubbish, and you’re done. No clogged sink, no headaches, and no money down the drain.
What if I Accidentally Pour Some Grease Down my Drain?
You don’t need to worry if a minimal amount of fat ends up inadvertently going down your drain. Some simple household products will help move the material through your pipes, where it can’t stay to collect and create an obstruction. Introducing boiling water into your drain stops the fat from solidifying, and a bit of added baking soda and vinegar aid in breaking it down. Do this quickly, to thwart the possibility of the oils amassing and hardening inside your pipes.
Prevention Is Essential to Avoid Clogged Drains
Properly discarding leftover fats, oil, and grease is critical in stopping drain blockages in the first place. Taking the extra time and steps to contain these substances and throw them away saves you the time, money, and hassle of congested pipes. You’ll also avoid contributing to the ruin of your local sewer system or your septic tank by practicing proper disposal of cooking lipids. But if a minor blockage happens, don’t attempt to sort it out yourself. Ring up your plumber immediately, because they’re experts who know how to remove clogs quite quickly. A small fee to undo a minor blockage is preferable to damaged pipes and greater expense. In short, if you take good care of your plumbing, it will take care of you in return.