The Holiday Foods Most Notorious For Causing Clogged Drains
When the holidays are coming up, we all know they're going to revolve around food. Holiday dishes are one of the best things about the season, and everyone looks forward to them. However, many holiday foods can wreak havoc on your plumbing. There are many items from your holiday recipes that should never go down the drain. These substances are the perfect way to clog a drain and need to have kitchen plumbing repair services. Some of these clogs require getting hydro jetting near me to get the drain clear again. Of course, if you keep these items out of the drain, you can avoid getting a clogged drain in the first place.
Coffee
No holiday feast is complete without some coffee. Many people love coffee after their holiday dinners as the perfect way to finish the meal. However, coffee grounds always rear their heads and can cause a clogged drain. When you empty your coffee grounds into the sink, the grounds get wet, and this can cause them to get denser and the grounds stick together. This will easily clog up the drain and can cause flooding. Always throw them in the trash instead.
Leftover Meat
There are many types of meat that are served during the holidays, and virtually all of them are terrible for the sink drain. All leftover meat needs to go into the trash can. Bones from various types of meat are especially bad for the drain. They can break the garbage disposal for good, making it necessary to replace it. Chicken skin is extremely bad for the drain and can cause a lot of problems. When it gets chopped up by the garbage disposal, the tiny pieces can cling to the blades as well as the pipes, and this can cause clogging. When chicken skin starts to decompose while stuck in the pipes, it will give off a foul odor.
Various Appetizers
Appetizers are a great way to keep people happy while the last touches are put on the meal. However, avoid putting scraps of those appetizers down the drain. If you are putting out a Charcuterie board full of cheese, nuts, and crackers, makes sure that you don't empty it into the drain later. Nuts are particularly bad for the drain. When nuts are spun and ground up, they create a thick paste. This paste is highly sticky and will stick to other foods in the drain, creating a clog. The cheese from the boars is full of fat and grease, and both of those things are bad for the drain. The cheese will coat the pipes and then cause other foods to stick to them and further block the pipes. If this occurs, you will need professional drain cleaning in Atlanta.
Gravy and Dressing
With the dangers of fats, grease, and oils getting into the drain, one of the worst things you can put down the drain is gravy and dressing. These are sticky enough to line the water pipes and cause other foods to stick to them as they go by. This will eventually create a nasty clog that necessitated kitchen plumbing repair. No one wants to deal with a clogged drain during the holidays, so pour these items into the trash.
Carrot and Potato Peels
When you are peeling potatoes and/or carrots, it may feel very convenient to let them fall into the sink and get washed down the drain. However, it can be a much better idea to peel them over the trash can. Potato skins are full of fiber and are long and stringy. This means that they are the perfect substance for getting wrapped around the blades of your garbage disposal. Carrot peels are similar and can do the same thing. If you do peel these veggies in the sink, do it over a strainer that you can empty into the trash.
Egg Shells
There are often a lot of eggs used in holiday dishes, and they all have shells that you then have to get rid of. Egg shells may seem like something easy to crunch up in the garbage disposal, but it's actually more complicated than that. Egg shells should never be put down the drain. The shells have a stringy membrane that lines them, and this membrane can affect your garbage disposal's blades. Like vegetable peels, the long, stringy nature of them can break your disposal. They can also get stuck to the inside of the pipes.
Potatoes and Stuffing
Anytime starch comes into contact with water, it will expand. When mashed potatoes and stuffing get put down your kitchen drain, they can stick to the inside of the pipes and then expand with the water flow. They can expand in the pipes until the drain is obstructed. Whether you're having stuffing, latkes, mashed potatoes, or potato sailed, it's best to keep them all out of the drain. When this happens, you may need hydrojetting services in Atlanta to get the pipes open and clean again.
Pits
When you make pies from scratch, there may be pits that you have to get rid of. Whether you are baking with apples, peaches, or cherries, you will have seeds or pits to deal with. When you get the pits and seeds out of these items, do so over the trash can to keep them out of the drain. If you get these into the garbage disposal, they can get stuck in between the blades. This can break the blades and cause the entire disposal to become too damaged to use. The only thing to do when that happens is to have a new garbage disposal installed.
Various Side Dishes
Everyone loves their holiday sides, but they can be extremely harmful to your garbage disposal and your drain. Many side dishes made from vegetables can act similarly to potato and carrot peels. They are stringy and fibrous, and when they get shredded, the strings will group together. When this happens in your pipes, it can form a blockage. When scraping leftovers off the holiday plates, be sure to do so in the trash can instead of the sink. It may seem like the garbage disposal will be quicker, but getting a clog in your drain would be a holiday complication you don't need.
When you're getting ready for the holidays, eating delicious dishes, and getting rid of the scraps, stay away from the sink. So many holiday foods can clog pipes that it's a good idea to simply not use the sink. If you do get a clog in your drain, you will need professional drain cleaning in Atlanta. The team at Plumb Words knows just how to handle various substances that can get into pipes and cause them to clog and get backed up. Give us a call today!
Ready for more? Check out these related articles:
PLUMBING SERVICES
SEWER LINE
DRAIN CLEANING
KITCHEN PLUMBING
PIPE SERVICES
WATER LEAKS
WATER HEATERS