What Not to Put Down Your Drain (and What to Do When You Already Did)

Grease is a liquid for about ten feet

Warm cooking fat pours easily and then cools inside the line, where it coats the pipe wall and catches everything else that passes. Pouring hot water after it just moves the problem further down the run. Wipe pans out and throw the fat away instead.

"Flushable" wipes are not

Wipes do not break apart the way toilet paper does. They snag on any imperfection in the line and build a mat. If a toilet has gotten slow since the household started using wipes, that's the reason.

The kitchen list worth taping inside a cabinet

These are the repeat offenders in the homes we service.

• Cooking grease, bacon fat and gravy
• Coffee grounds — they compact like wet sand
• Rice, pasta and oatmeal, which keep swelling
• Fibrous vegetable peels and celery strings
• Eggshells, which grind into a sludge that binds with grease
• Paint, joint compound and grout rinse water

When it's already slow

A single slow fixture is usually a local clog. Multiple fixtures slowing at once — especially a floor drain or a tub gurgling when a toilet flushes — points to the main line, and store-bought chemicals will not fix that. They will, however, sit in the line and make the eventual service call unpleasant.