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Why You Should Never Pour Grease Down the Drain
Keep it in your hands! Don’t even consider dumping the bacon grease into the sink. We understand – it’s a sweltering, sticky mess. However, it has the potential to cause major problems.
So, what are your options?
Grease is bad for your health, but it’s still just as bad for your drainpipes. It’s possible you’ve learned that pouring grease down the drain with hot water or dish soap is okay. Some people claim that dumping liquid cooking oils/cooking fat down the drain won’t clog it.
In fact, grease should never be poured down the kitchen drain. We’ll look at the effects of oil on your home’s drain in the sections below. We also provide other options for getting rid of these unwanted pools of fat.
What to Do with Leftover Cooking Grease
Some grease that is stable at room temperatures, such as duck fat or lard, should be kept away from your drains. Olive oil, palm oil, and canola oil are all liquid form at room temperature and should never be pumped down the sink. When you’ve finished frying, here’s what you can do with both.
Grease – While the grease is already hot, spill it into a dedicated grease jar or can be designed for this purpose.
A mason jar or plastic grease can be made by opening the lid of a soda can using a can opener. Simply scoop out the strong grease into the garbage bin or throw out the whole container until the jar or can is full. You should still keep the grease in the pan until it solidifies before wiping it out.
Can you pour cooking oil down the drain?
Until using, make sure the cooking oil has properly cooled. If there is less than a cup of oil left, pour it into the garbage can over a few paper towels. This might not be a choice if you’re dealing with a lot of crude. If you have more than a cup of oil leftover, pour it into a tub and save it for another fry. Alternatively, collect used cooking oil in plastic jugs with screw tops and dispose of the whole container until it is empty.
How to dispose of bacon grease
NYC DEP says, “So if you want to get rid of grease properly, we recommend you let the grease cool down a little bit. Then, pour that cooled grease into a non-recyclable container, like those plastic ones you get with takeout food, and put the whole thing, grease and plastic and all, into the regular trash. You can also keep the plastic container in the fridge until trash day so that that fats solidify, and the whole thing is slightly less messy.”
What Happens When You Pour Grease Down Your Drain?
The fluidity of hot grease makes it easy to spill down a drain pipe. When the temperature of grease drops, however, it solidifies, creating a grease clog that is impossible to clean. You may be blissfully ignorant of the problem now, but the grease buildup in your pipes will eventually trigger a blockage (clogged pipe) and other plumbing issues.
The situation gets worse if the grease doesn’t adhere to your pipes and just runs into the sewers. Oil from all of the local homes and restaurants is combined here. These kinds of grease formations degrade over time, releasing glycerol, and fatty acids.
In the sewers, the fatty acids combine with calcium to form fatbergs (fatty waste), which are soap-like compounds. Fatbergs cling to the sewer ceilings as the sewer level increases, growing in size and gradually clogging the entire sewer system.
The only limit to how big a fatberg can get is the sewer’s capacity. In the British seaside town of Sidmouth, a giant fatberg weighing 210 feet blocked a drain in 2019. This big clump of fat took the sewer squad more than eight weeks to dissect.
What If I Already Poured Grease Down the Drain?
Many people, unfortunately, are unaware of the problems that grease can create in a drain system.
It could be easy to get oil out of the drainpipes and into the sewer system if you unintentionally dumped it down the drain.
If you’re already reading this blog after the fact, there are a few steps you can take to mitigate the damage. First, Pour a gallon of scalding hat water down the drain steadily by using the hottest temperature level on the faucet. Squirt dish cleaner down the sink as you’re doing this. Every strong grease should be re-liquefied by the hot water, and the soap and water should carry it out of the tubing.
Call an Expert Halifax Drain Inspection Team
If you’ve been dumping grease down your drain for years, you will need professional assistance (expert drain cleaner). This grease is most certainly clinging to dirt clogging the plumbing, necessitating skilled cleaning.
We suggest you get a drain inspection video recorded to first uncover the problem, without the need to do any drastic initial work.
Unclog your sinks and vacuum your pipes by calling the Halifax Plumbing Experts. On our homepage, you may also submit a quote. We’re a family-owned plumbing company. Our plumbers acknowledge that plumbing service is about more than just your pipes; it’s also about your happiness.
*The blog should not be used as a substitute for a licensed plumbing professional in your state/province or region. Check with city and provincial laws before performing any household project.*
