Have you ever been curious about how you could go about completely ruining your kitchen’s pipes and drain? If you do, we hope it’s purely for educational purposes and not for something sinister. Either way, we won’t hold back in explaining how you would go about clogging your pipes up.
Even though clogs can be fairly easy to unclog with the right equipment, the problem is when homeowners decide to fix the clogs themselves—they simply don’t have the tools that are best for protecting the lifespan of the plumbing system.
Overall, we don’t want you to treat your plumbing irresponsibly, either before or after a clog. So here are some ways that you could totally ruin your kitchen plumbing (purely for educational purposes, of course).
Pour These Horrible Things Down the Drain
Fats, Oils, Greases: Also referred to collectively as FOG, these three substances are the terrible trio of pipe-clogging. First, what makes them so horrible is that these substances solidify as they cool. When they’re hot and fresh off the frying pan, it seems logical to wash it all down the sink with everything else. After they become more solid inside your pipes, they’ll become a magnet for pieces of food and bits of trash, like produce stickers.
Butter and Margarine: Yep, these fall under the FOG category! If you don’t want FOGs to ruin yours (or the neighborhood’s) plumbing, pour them in a cup lined with foil, wait for them to solidify, and toss them out with the garbage.
Flour: There’s a popular science experiment for kids that involves mixing 1/2 cup white flour with 2/3 cups water to create a creamy paste. As you can imagine, this experiment needs to stay far away from your kitchen sink.
Pasta and Rice: With pasta and rice, it’s unavoidable to have leftover bits stuck to the plate, so our next step is usually to rinse them off down the drain. Unfortunately, these starchy foods will expand when added to water, thus creating the perfect trap for blockage.
Coffee Grounds: Just run the water through the coffee grounds, and they’ll surely break apart on their way to the sewer. Wrong! Coffee grounds will stubbornly clump together inside your pipes to form a clog rivaling those made by fats, oils, and greases. Pour those grounds in the compost or in your garden, instead.
And the Award for the Worst of All Goes To…
Drain Cleaners: In response to FOG, the worst thing you could do is let your pipes guzzle drain cleaner. Don’t believe the propaganda—drain cleaners are not effective at cleaning drains, as crazy as that might sound. These chemical concoctions will eat away at your pipes, leading to corrosion and premature pipe replacement.
When you call for plumbing services in Carrollton, TX, you’ll notice that the professional’s chosen method for unclogging is hydro jetting, or even a drain snake in some cases, but never drain cleaners.
Have you ruined your kitchen plumbing? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. Contact Hutchins Plumbing & Air Conditioning and Get it done right… Right now!
