When in Doubt if Something Should Go Down the Drain, Throw it in the Trashcan.

Drain Do’s & Don’ts

dont-throw-it-in-the-toiletGive grease the boot to the trashcan—not the sink.  After cooking meats, you’ll be tempted to send all the grease and oil in the pan to the sink.

Stop!

Don’t ever pour fats, oils or grease down any sink or toilet.

Grease, oils and fats will harden in your drain and clog it. Instead, wipe down the cooking pan with a paper towel. Throw the paper towel away and then wash the pan off.

If you have an excess of grease that can’t be wiped up you and need to pour it somewhere, absolutely do not pour it down the drain.

Instead, grab a glass or ceramic bowl, lay aluminum foil across the bottom of it and pour the extra grease over the foil in the bowl. Set aside to harden. Once the grease has congealed, wrap up the foil around the grease and throw the grease in your trash can.

Keep the water running as you use your garbage disposal.  Like drinking water helps you digest your food, running your sink’s faucet will help break up the food in the drain as you use your garbage disposal unit. Keep the water running running as you take our advice from the first tip.

Use a simple sign to keep your toilet from clogging.  After all this talk about your kitchen, we’d be shortchanging you if we didn’t discuss bathroom plumbing shenanigans.

If you’re having guests stay overnight, there may be someone who throws unflushable items in the toilet. These will easily clog your toilets because they don’t dissolve in water.

These un-flushable items include:

  • Facial cleansing pads;
  • Cleaning wipes;
  • “Flushable” wipes (even though they say they are, they aren’t always flushable);
  • Sanitary napkins;
  • Cotton balls;
  • Talking to holiday guests directly about this may be awkward. So we suggest just putting an easy-to-see sign in your bathroom that discourages throwing those items in the toilet.

Prepare for Murphy’s Law
We understand that, as much as you try to avoid plumbing problem this Thanksgiving, one can slip through.

It’s Murphy’s law at it’s finest: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Prepare for Murphy’s Law and have a Pleasanton plumber you can trust on call in case of an emergency.

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