Things that should not go down your drain
When you want to avoid having a clog in a bathroom or kitchen sink, there are things that you should never pour into the drains.
In addition to creating a clog, you can damage the pipes underneath the sinks when the wrong substances enter the drains.
Having pipe damage or a thick clog in a drain will require a repair from a plumber, so you must keep these items away from a bathtub or sink drain.
Bones From Meat
Make sure to throw bones from meat into the trash rather than tossing these items into the kitchen sink.
Despite having a high-quality garbage disposer, you must place beef, pork and poultry bones in the trash to avoid breaking the blades of the appliance.
Fibrous Vegetable Waste
If you are cooking corn on the cob, don’t place the leftover cobs, outer leaves or silky strings into the kitchen sink.
These items will clog the drainage system, and when you have a garbage disposer, the cobs will break the blades or the leaves and silky strands will wrap around the blades.
Additional fibrous vegetable waste such as artichoke leaves, potato peels or broccoli stems can damage the drains or create a clog.
Coffee Grounds
When you enjoy coffee, make sure to have a wastebasket near your kitchen’s coffee maker so that you won’t toss the used coffee grounds into the sink.
Coffee grounds are hard pellets that can absorb water, causing a clog in the drain, or the debris can damage the sharp blades on your kitchen’s garbage disposer.
Human or Pet Hair
It is vital to keep pet or human hair from entering the drains in the sinks or bathtubs.
Wet hair tends to gather into a ball so that the item becomes stuck in the drainage system, and this debris will also combine with soap or hair care products.
To avoid problems with hair clogs, you can buy special devices at hardware stores to place over the drains to capture the hair.
Refined or Whole-grain Flour
If you are baking bread or cake, then make sure to dump the excess refined or whole-grain flour into the trash rather than dropping it into the kitchen sink’s drain.
When any type of flour mixes with water, it creates a gooey mess that will stick to the inside of the pipes.
After the flour mixture dries, it will clump together into a hard ball that will ruin a garbage disposer’s mechanisms.
Paper Products
Make sure that paper products don’t enter a drain because the items will absorb water to create a clog underneath the sink or in the sewer lines.
Paper products that are considered biodegradable will likely cause damage to the drains, so you must toss facial tissues, makeup remover pads and feminine hygiene products in the trash.
Greasy or Oily Substances
When you are frying foods in cooking oil, make sure to have a safe container such as a metal food can for the leftover dirty grease.
After this grease solidifies, you can place the container in the trash.
Do not pour cooking oils or chunks of animal fat into the drains because as the substances cool, the debris will stick to the sides of the pipes.