As you are in the kitchen this holiday season, preparing and cleaning up meals for your friends and family, make sure that you are being thoughtful about how you are using your plumbing fixtures and appliances.
The parts and pieces of your plumbing system are designed and manufactured to only manage liquid and some solid waste. In your kitchen, a garbage disposal helps to reduce the volume of the solid waste down to a pulp so that it slides through the drain and pipes.
However, when you put foods into your garbage disposal that are hard on your garbage disposal, it will not function properly and soon you will find yourself with a clog in the drain line. Keep these tips in mind as you are working in the kitchen this year:
- With all of the chaos of the holiday season, and the work that goes along with it, your coffee pot is going ‘round the clock. But, make sure to put the coffee grounds into the compost or into the garbage and not down the sink. Coffee grounds will mix with water inside of the drain and turn into a paste after they are dry. This paste will accumulate on the inside walls of your pipes and cause the water and other solids to have a much smaller space to go through.
- When you are preparing the sweet potato pie, carrot salad, and other dishes that include root vegetables, make sure that you put the peels into the garbage can and not into the garbage disposal. Not only are these foods thick and pulpy but, they are full of starch which will turn into a hard cement-like crust in your plumbing pipes once all of the water evaporates.
- If you do find that your kitchen sink is clogged, make sure that you use a sink plunger or, contact a plumber for help. Don’t use an over the counter drain cleaner to manage the clog. These chemicals are tempting because their ease of use, but they are also very caustic and will cause problems for your plumbing system.
Your plumbing system is an intricate configuration of pipes and fittings that are deliberately designed to support the tasks of your household. While it does seem like the system is durable and can take a ‘beating’, it is actually very delicate as far as what it can manage. Keep these tips in mind as you are preparing your holiday meals.