You may not want to think about it quite yet, but Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Are you hosting the meal this year? This means you’ll be doing a considerable amount of cooking, then. We can’t give you much advice in the way of culinary skills, but we can tell you how to treat your kitchen sink during this fun and festive holiday.
There are some important things to be aware of when you’re cooking large meals, regardless of whether or not you have a garbage disposal system or not—but you’ll want to be even more careful about your kitchen sink if you do have a disposal system in place. When you need professional plumbing services, we’re the team to call. In the meantime, keep reading to learn about avoiding common holiday hazards.
Don’t Put Hard Food Items Down Your Garbage Disposal
We get it, you trust your garbage disposal to be able to… well… dispose of anything and everything. But that’s just not the case. There are some things, like turkey bones, fruit pits, and other hard food items that simply don’t belong in this system.
Your garbage disposal functions by using centrifugal force to break apart food items, and hard food items simply can’t break up that easily—these food items belong in your trash can.
Also, Avoid Fibrous Foods
This includes things like celery stalks and corn husks. What happens is that these items get wrapped up in the moving parts of your garbage disposal, and then the system gets jammed up and can’t operate as normal.
Just Say No to Pasta, Rice, Or Potato Skins!
We don’t mean say no to eating these items, they’re delicious! But too many of them, while they won’t hurt your garbage disposal system, will clog up your drain. This happens because they absorb water and expand, leading to blockages.
You may be unpleasantly surprised by how backed up your sink can get when you shock it with too much debris—more than your garbage disposal can effectively break up enough to safely go down the drains. And this isn’t something you want before or during a holiday meal!
Beware FOG
We’re not talking about the water vapor you see on a cool morning or evening—we’re talking about Fats, Oils, and Grease. This is a type of FOG you never want to put down your kitchen sink drain. The problem is, it hardens as it cools, so if you put it down your drain, it builds up to the point that it creates clogs and subsequent backups.
The best thing you can do with FOG is to pour it in a tin can, so that way when it cools and hardens, you can just throw it away in your trash can instead of allowing it to clog up your kitchen sink drain. Remember, even if you have a garbage disposal system, it’s completely useless against the buildup of FOG.
For professional plumbing in Maryland Heights, MO, contact Performance Plumbing today!