When you prepare a delicious meal for your family, the risk of blocked drains is probably not the first thing on your mind. However, the typical kitchen is full of hazards that can do significant damage to your home's plumbing. Here are a few leading culinary causes of blocked drains, along with tips for keeping them out of your pipes.
1. Cooking Fat
Whether you cook with butter, oil, margarine or lard, it is important to avoid pouring used cooking fat down the drain. Hot fat is a fluid that slips down the drain easily, but when it cools, it can solidify and cause a blockage.
After frying or roasting food, wait for the oil left behind in the pan to cool enough to reduce the risk of burning yourself, and then pour it into a container. Throw this container out with household waste. You can then wash the pan with plenty of hot soapy water. Run the hot tap for a while after washing a greasy pan to help any leftover traces of cooking fat to flow through the pipes without solidifying.
2. Starchy Foods
Pasta, rice, potato peelings, mashed potato and cous cous are all potential causes of blocked drains. When these foods are soaked in water, they form a gel-like substance that cause block the pipes in your home. Use a drain cover to prevent grains of rice or tiny slivers or potato or pasta from slipping down the drain.
3. Coffee Grounds
If you have ever experienced the gritty, slimy, sludgy texture of wet coffee grounds, you can surely understand how they can contribute to a home plumbing disaster. Never empty used coffee grounds into the kitchen sink; if they go down the drain, they could combine with other food scraps to form a disgusting clog. A better way to dispose of coffee grounds is to put them on your flowerbeds. Coffee contains many minerals that are useful for growing plants, and some people claim that its smell can even deter neighbourhood cats from using your garden as a toilet.
4. Seeds
Whether you are deseeding a bell pepper or washing out the remains of a bowl of tasty muesli, be sure not to let seeds fall down the plughole of your kitchen sink. Seeds can combine with sludgy coffee grounds, starchy foods, or cooking fat to contribute to a clog. Instead of standing over the sink to remove seeds from fruits and vegetables, use a plastic container to collect the seeds so you can easily throw them out.