Why You Shouldn’t Be Pouring Grease Down The Drain

Whether you’re brand new to cooking or are a well-seasoned pro, it’s no doubt that you’ve found yourself cooking with grease at some point or another. The question however, is do you know how to properly dispose of it? If you’re like many, you might just be pouring it down your kitchen sink when you’re finished cooking, not thinking anything of it. If this is how you’ve been disposing of your grease, keep reading to find out why you shouldn’t be.

The Difference

When you’re cooking with it, grease is in a liquid form, so surely there’s no problem in pouring it down your drain—you can do it with any other kind of liquid, after all, so what’s the difference? The difference is that, once is cools off, it no longer stays a liquid. Instead, it solidifies, and this is where the problems come from.

What Can Happen

Once it solidifies, one of two things will happen, one that will only affect you personally, and one that will affect your neighbors as well.

To Your Drain

The first thing that can happen, is that it will eventually lead to clogged drains. It might not happen right away, but over time enough of the solidified grease will build up in your pipes that food and debris will start getting stuck in it. Eventually, this will leave you with a clog that will require a lot of work to remove.

To The Sewers

If you get lucky and the grease escapes your pipes without causing you too many problems, that will mean it is now in the sewers. Once in the sewers, it will have the opportunity to combine with the oil and grease that your neighbors have washed down their drains as well. Once this grease and cooking oil has all broken down to glycerol and fatty acids, it will all come together to combine with the calcium that is found in the sewers and form something known as a fatberg. When big enough, this fatberg can eventually go on to block the entire sewer system, creating problems for everyone.

Contact Us Today

If it’s a little too late for this warning and you’ve already been disposing of your grease by pouring it down the drain, and have found yourself with a clogged pipe, we urge you to get in touch with us at Signature Plumbing today so we can help you resolve your problem as quickly and painlessly as possible. Your pipes will thank you.