“FOG” is plumbing industry shorthand for “fats, oil & grease.” FOG provides our company with a lot of business over the winter holidays yet nothing but headaches for you.
Many of you celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with traditional holiday feasts that include turkey, ham, gravy, stuffing and deliciously gooey desserts. Tasty as these dishes may be, they require preparation with lots of cooking oil, grease, butter and fat, and all that FOG can wreak havoc on kitchen drains along with the rest of your home’s wastewater system. The holidays may be a good time to forget about your waistline but the worst time to suffer a clogged drain line or worse – such as raw sewage backing up through toilets, sinks or tubs.
While we’re happy to gain your business, we’d prefer to see you happy over the festive winter holidays. So, keep in mind the following while celebrating your holidays.
Never pour fats, oils or grease down a sink drain, toilet or tub. Also take care not to dispose of meats and other greasy foods down the drain. Instead, put them in a garbage bag or sealed container and dispose of them in the trash. FOG can also be poured into kitty litter and then disposed. Even small amounts of FOG can create problems in your drain lines.
Wipe greasy dishes and pots with a paper towel or napkin to absorb cooking oil before washing.
Be selective in pouring table scraps into your disposal. Garbage disposals are wondrous devices designed to get rid of table scraps, but stringy and fibrous foods such as celery stalks and potato peels can present a challenge to many garbage disposals. This is especially the case when food is prepared in high volume for holiday meals in homes with low-capacity disposals. Toss the stringy debris in the garbage instead. Also, make use of the drain baskets and strainers in your kitchen sink to catch smaller food items rinsed from plates and utensils. If you’re into gardening, you may want to consider collecting vegetable and fruit scraps for use in a backyard composting pile.
Don’t use your toilet as a substitute for the sink drain in disposing of these items. Also, while you probably know better than to flush paper towels, sanitary napkins and wet wipes down a toilet, don’t take it for granted that your holiday visitors and overnight guests will be as sensible. Provide a waste basket in every bathroom and empty it frequently. If you’re really concerned about any guests who might be common-sense challenged, put a little sign up advising against flushing any of the above.
Keep a plunger next to every toilet just in case all of the above advice fails.
When all else fails, give us a call. Some drain lines are at a tipping point just waiting for the slightest accumulation of debris to clog up. Annual routine maintenance of your drain and sewer lines can prevent these unpleasant surprises.