Why You Should Never Pour Grease Down the Drain

Grease is not only harmful to your health, but it is also harmful to your drainpipes. You may have heard that it is safe to pour grease down the drain if you use hot water or dish soap. Some people believe that pouring liquid cooking oils down the drain will not result in a blockage.

Actually, you should never pour grease down the drain. The following section examines the negative impact of oil on your home’s drain. We also offer alternatives for getting rid of these substances.

What Happens If You Pour Grease Down the Drain?

Hot grease flows easily and can be poured down a drain. However, as the temperature of the grease drops, it solidifies, forming a difficult-to-remove clog. You may be blissfully unaware of the problem, but the grease accumulation in your pipes will eventually cause a blockage and other plumbing issues.

If the grease does not adhere to your pipes and instead flows into the sewers, the problem worsens. Oil from all of the area’s homes and restaurants congregates here. These grease formations degrade over time to form fatty acids and glycerol.

In the sewers, the fatty acids combine with calcium to form fatbergs, which are soap-like compounds. When the sewer level rises, fatbergs cling to the sewer ceilings, growing in size and eventually clogging the entire sewer pipe.
The only limit to the size of a fatberg is the size of the sewer. In 2019, a 210-foot fatberg clogged a drain in the British seaside town of Sidmouth. It took the sewer crew more than eight weeks to dissect this massive clump of fat.

How to Dispose of Grease Properly

Even if the oil is a liquid at room temperature, any fat, oil, or grease can clog pipes. But what should you do with bacon grease, used olive oil, or lard if you can’t pour it down the drain?

Oil for Cooking

Wait for the oil to cool after cooking with olive, coconut, avocado, or sunflower oil. Then, before washing the pan, absorb the oil with paper towels. Place the paper towels in the garbage can. If you used a lot of oil, disposing of it with paper towels might be too wasteful and costly. Instead, pour the oil into a glass container with a lid and store it for later use. If you don’t want to reuse the oil, pour it into a disposable screw-top container, such as a soda bottle. When the container is full, dispose of it.

Grease

Allow the grease to cool and solidify in the pan. Then, using a spatula, scrape the grease from the pan and discard it. Soak up any remaining oil or fat in the pan with a paper towel. If you need to dispose of a large amount of grease, pour it into a container while it is still hot and liquid. When the container is full, you can either empty it into the trash or discard it. Oil is usually kept in a separate container in restaurants.

I’ve already poured grease down the sink’s drain.

Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the issues that grease can cause in a drainage system. If you unintentionally poured oil down your drain, it may be possible to get it out and into the sewer system.

Boiling water should be poured down the drain to liquefy the grease in the pipes. While pouring boiling water down the drain, turn on the hot water faucet to flush the liquified waste. Because surfactant molecules allow oil and water to emulsify, you should also pour dish soap down the drain with the boiling water.

Although hot water and dish soap can help remove grease from your pipes, it will still end up in the sewer system. Furthermore, it may not completely resolve the issue.

Efforts of the Community

According to a sewer worker in the United Kingdom, if a water authority does not address a fatberg, raw sewage can spill from all manholes in the area. To avoid this situation, homeowners and restaurant owners everywhere should collaborate to keep the sewer system clean. Even if the grease does not clog your own drain, you have a responsibility to aid in the prevention of sewer and blocked drains oxford problems in your community.