Just because you can pour something down your sink drain or flush something down your toilet doesn’t mean you should. These are just some examples of things that you should keep away from your drains and why.
Bacon Grease
You’re washing the dishes after cooking up a big brunch of bacon, eggs, and toast. You have a frying pan full of liquid bacon grease, and you need to get rid of it before you can wash it with soap and water. Why not pour the grease down your kitchen sink?
Bacon grease should never go down your drain. It may be slick and liquid when it’s hot, but it hardens and congeals when it cools. That hardened grease will stick to the sides of your drains. When you make a habit of pouring this down your sink, you can create a nasty clog that will be hard to get rid of without a plumber. Bacon grease also goes rancid over time, so it could go bad inside your drain and stink up your entire kitchen.
If you’ve made this mistake too many times and your sink is smelly and clogged, you should call a plumber right away—even when your budget is tight. If you don’t have the savings, you can look into a short term loan online as a solution. As long as you meet the qualifications, you can apply. If you get approved for the loan, you can use it to cover this urgent plumbing expense and move forward.
So, how should you get rid of bacon grease? Wait for it to cool in the pan. Once it’s hardened, scoop it out with a spatula and dump it into your kitchen garbage can. Wipe down any remaining grease from the pan with a paper towel, and then throw that in the garbage, too.
Coffee Grounds
You pour your cold coffee down the kitchen sink, so why not pour the coffee grounds down there too? It’s because coffee grounds can clump together in your drain and cause stubborn clogs. Those grounds that made your morning cup of Joe should go in the trash. If you’re an avid gardener, coffee grounds are great materials for DIY compost.
Wipes
Baby wipes, makeup wipes, sanitizing wipes or other types of wet wipes should never go down your toilet. They may say “flushable” on the box, but you should ignore that advertising. While they may go down the drain, they are not good for your home’s plumbing. Wipes can create stubborn drain clogs that a regular plunger can’t clear for you.
Wipes aren’t just a problem for your plumbing. They’re a problem for city-wide sanitation systems because they create monstrous clogs called “fatbergs” (a horrific combination of fat and wipes sent down drains). So, put all of your wipes in the garbage can. Only toilet paper should be flushed down the toilet.
Medication
You have a medicine cabinet full of expired or unnecessary medication. Can’t you just pull off the caps and dump them in the toilet? No. Dumping your medication down the toilet isn’t a good habit. Doing this can pollute the water in the wastewater system and negatively impact the surrounding environment. To get rid of your medication properly, you should go to a drug take-back location. You can find locations near you through the Drug Enforcement Administration’s website.
However, you should know that there are some drugs that are considered exceptions to this rule by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. You can check out the FDA’s flush list and see whether any of your medications are on it. Your drains can’t handle everything. Don’t make the mistake of pouring any of these items down them!
