Day: March 31, 2021

There are a lot of things that homeowners expect to go down the drain without a fuss. However, there are quite a few things that end up giving them trouble later without them realizing the connection. After all, if you dump something into your drain, why would you assume it’s related when your drain stops working over a week later? Today we want to talk about some things that clog your drains that may surprise you!

1. Grease, Oil, and Fat, Oh My!

The #1 thing that people dump down their kitchen drain only to end up with a clog is all of the above. Grease, oil, and fat from meat all love to stick around. Have you ever fried bacon only to find the grease has solidified in the pan within a few hours? When you dump things like bacon grease down your kitchen drain, it will solidify in  your pipes the same way.

While you’re not likely to get enough grease solidified in your pipes to block the entire drain, there’s more. Congealed grease isn’t just a blockage by itself, it’s a glue. Any other food particles that end up going down the drain while you wash dishes will get caught in this greasy web. After a while, half your drain pipe is being blocked off by grease and those things not lucky enough to escape its grasp.

2. Starchy Things

You might not think them a risk, but starchy things ending up down your drain can pose a huge problem. Rice, oatmeal, pasta noodles, and flour can all cause massive problems in your drainage. These things love to stick together. Have you ever gotten wet flour on your hands while baking? It’s like an organic cement. Now imagine what havoc that would wreak on your sink drain!

3. Coffee Grounds

This is one of the leading offenders in sink clogs. Coffee grounds are so small that they seem like they should simply wash right down the drain. Wrong! Coffee grounds may be small, but they’re also heavier than they look. Like sand, when put into water, 90% of the coffee grounds will sink. That means, at the first dip in your drain pipe, the grounds will get caught, settle, and clog your drains.

This is even more of a problem if you already have things like grease lining the inside of your drain pipe. Coffee grounds mixed with grease is a plumbing nightmare!

Unclog Those Drains

If you’re finding that your kitchen drain isn’t doing its job quite how it used to, you probably have an organic blockage. Give us a call at POM Plumbing and we can take care of it fast. Simply cleaning out the drains with one of our specialized pressure washers can bring your drain back to its usual speed and quality.

A common topic of contention these days is whether biodegradable cleaners are really necessary. Because we deal in a related field – plumbing – our experts at POM Plumbing have put together some facts about biodegradable cleaners.  Are biodegradable cleaners really necessary? Let’s put them to the test!

What Are Biodegradable Cleaners?

Biodegradable cleaners have differences and similarities to standard ones. The first thing we have to note is that every company may use the word biodegradable differently. Unless your biodegradable cleaners have stickers or marks on them from earth-friendly organizations, you can’t necessarily trust the word “biodegradable.” After all, everything is biodegradable with enough time.

Likewise, eco friendly, green, and all natural don’t necessarily mean what you think they mean. After all, everything in the world is natural, leaving the margin for how safe something is quite big. Natural things are dangerous for humans all the time. Therefore, we have to look at the ingredients in a product to determine how safe it is.

Product Safety

When wondering if biodegradable cleaners are an important investment for the average household, the topic of safety is one of the first to be brought up. However, there are two kinds of safety. Let’s consider both.

Direct Safety

The first thing is direct safety. As in, are these products safe to handle and breathe in the fumes of. For most standard cleaners, the answer is no. You should avoid getting them on your skin at all and immediately wash them if you do. Many of the products, especially those made with bleach, are also dangerous to inhale. Using bleach-based cleaners in a closed bathroom can lead to passing out. These standard cleaners are also incredibly dangerous to use around each other. Mixing two of them just by using them one right after the other can create toxic, deadly gases. 

Because biodegradable cleaners are still made with chemicals (albeit less harsh ones), you should still be cautious when mixing or using in tandem. However, because biodegradable cleaners are made to be milder, they’re usually not as worrisome when in contact with skin. You should still wash your hands off when you’re done cleaning, but may not need to take immediate action.

Indirect Safety

Cleaners don’t just affect us while we use them to clean; they also effect the environment after we clean. The cleaners we use will get washed down the drain and inevitably end up in a body of water somewhere, or the soil. This will happen even faster if you have cracks in your drain pipes. This is more common than people think, and leads to drained fluids leeching into the soil around your house.

Standard cleaners, with harsher ingredients, will pose more of a threat to local wildlife and flora. The less harsh a cleaner’s ingredients are, the less likely it is to harm animals or plants. Therefore, in that regard, biodegradable cleaners that degrade quickly are better, as they won’t linger in the environment and build up.

Manufacturing

One of the oft-overlooked and most important parts of determining a cleaner’s effect on the environment is its manufacturing process. Manufacturing a cleaner involves combining a lot of ingredients and chemicals, no matter the type of cleaner. However, the harsher cleaners involve harsher chemicals and, therefore, a harsher process. The harsher the manufacturing process, the more likely it is for there to be chemical waste that needs to be dumped somewhere. This process, happening en masse, can be detrimental for wildlife near manufacturing plants (which are everywhere).

Are They Necessary?

Due to the strain standard, harsh cleaners have on the environment, we feel that biodegradable cleaners are something we should all strive to use as soon as possible. Shifting from dangerous manufacturing to something more sustainable is an important step in keeping ourselves and our children safe for generations.