Some of you might wonder why we have to be so particular about what goes down the drain. The truth is, it leads to terrible blockage in your pipes and one of the worst culprits is fat. This post explains why you shouldn’t pour fat down the drain.
Fatbergs
Perhaps you haven’t come across this term before but ‘fatbergs’ are horrible (we wouldn’t recommend looking for pictures). Fatbergs are essentially made up of grease and oil from the kitchen, and tissues and wipes from the bathroom, combined with other chemicals in the sewers to form a congealed chemical build-up that blocks the pipes carrying water to wastewater treatment plants. Considering how many people might allow fat and oils to go down the drain, fatbergs can cause massive blockages. The last thing any of us want is for our sewage pipes to be blocked – that would be catastrophic.
Dispose with caution
It’s important you take good measures to prevent the build-up of oil in the drain; even just a little bit of it can have a great impact, especially in highly populated areas like cities.
- If you have a fair amount of fat or oil from cooking that you need to dispose of, you can recycle it at an oil recycling plant. There are facilities around the country that work on turning oils and fats into biofuel. By recycling your waste, you’ll actually be doing them a favour.
- Smaller amounts of oil or fat can be left to solidify in a jar which you can then throw away into the bin.~
- If you’ve used a small amount of oil for cooking, you can let the pan or pot cool down then wipe out the fat/ oil with kitchen roll then throw it in the bin. You’re then free to wash it in the sink or dishwasher.
- Dishes that still have oil on them after you’ve eaten can be wiped down with kitchen roll before you wash it up in the sink or dishwasher.
If fat does go down the drain
Sometimes fat and oils do end up down the drain by accident. In such cases, it’s important you flush the pipes with boiling water and a mixture of vinegar and baking soda in order to keep the fat from sticking to the walls of your drain pipes. Here are some methods you can use to clean out your drains.
Fat in the drain is never ideal, it can cause a lot of other drainage issues that can impact more than just your home. If you think your drains are clogged from fat build-up, you can contact us and we’ll use out CCTV drain inspection to diagnose and resolve your drainage problems.