Best tip we ever got

Just wanted to share this one. I called a plumber out because my kitchen sinks were clogged and not draining well/etc. The guy who came out to do the work told me that we could save ourselfs some grief if we would just do this one thing:
once a week put the stopper in both sinks and fill them almost to the brim with COLD water, then let them both out. He said hot water from dishes/etc melts the grease and then it hardens again and causes clogs. A sinkful of COLD water helps flush out the grease collecting in the drain pipe. I have been doing this now for more then a year and even if I forget occasionally, I can tell it's doing the job because although it starts slow when I pull the stopper, about 1/2 way down the drain starts draining like crazy and it doesn't drain slow for a long time again. Hope this helps someone else, I know it helped me! Sandy

tip

I tell customers just the opposite. Fill the sinks with hot water, then run the disposer, if they have one, while they drain so the hot water will "melt" the accumulated grease and the flow will flush it out.

Hot Water

sorry for the disagreement but hot water never did help me with my slow drains(I tried that too) and I really don't see how running the disposal would help anything(tried that already). All I know is that now when my drains get to running slowly after my plumber told me this tip, I use it and it has worked every time for me. Even when I have forgotten to do this for awhile and the water is almost not draining at all if I plug the sinks, fill them with cold water to the brim and let them both drain together my problem is taken care of. Thanks for your opinion though, Sandy

I agree with hj. Cold water will do nothing for grease. It will harden it and flow right by it. Hot water will melt it and the garbage disposal will force the water down the drain faster / harder than gravity helping to force anything out. You have to do the garbage disposal with the sink full of hot water.

That said if the cold water thing seems to be working for you then by all means keep doing it.

My guess is that hot grease tends to stick to the sides of the pipe, so that all of it is not removed. This would explain why it takes a few seconds for the cold water to start draining--it takes a few seconds for all that grease to coagulate. Once it becomes hard, it stops sticking to the interior of the pipe and then gets pushed down the drain.

drain

The disposer is a "pump" and creates pressure and velocity, both of which will force the grease down the pipe. The interior of the pipe is cool, so any grease that was not congealed by the cold water and "'ground up" be the disposer is going to adhere to it. Once that happens, cold water is going to do nothing to remove it. If anything it will make it harder.

Hot Water and Dawn Dish Detergent

Is what I tell all of my customers if they start to experience a slow drain, short of calling me when it is completely stopped.

Dawn dish detergent....and only the blue stuff works well for separating grease.

That product is used worldwide for cleaning up major spills; the patent for that must be worth billions.

Cold water and grease are two components that don't work well together. Otherwise all dishwashers wouldn't be fed by hot water sources, only.

Filling the water up to the flood level rim of a sink creates significant continuous hydropressure for subjecting a drain to forceful flow.


Thanks for the opinion even though it is flawed sandybingo. But no matter what, if it is working for you then that is all that matters.

Hot water is the first thing I run down a drain the second the clog starts to move along with a quart of Dawn dish detergent. Cleans my cables on the return as well.

I have to agree with HJ and Cass. In my considerable experience, hot water will do more for a drain. A sink full of hot water is even better. Cold water won't do anything for grease and soap scum.