Holiday Kitchen Drain Clogs: What Not to Put Down the Drain

Plumbers have a name for the day after Thanksgiving: the busiest drain day of the year. Big meals, a full house and a lot of dishes all hit the kitchen sink at once, and a drain that was fine all year suddenly backs up. The good news is that most holiday clogs are easy to prevent.

What not to put down the kitchen drain

Grease, oil and fat

This is the number one cause of kitchen clogs. Turkey drippings, bacon grease and cooking oil go down as a liquid, then cool and harden inside the pipe. Each time it happens, the opening gets a little smaller. Pour cooled grease into a can or jar and throw it in the trash. Wipe greasy pans with a paper towel before washing them.

Potato peels

Peels turn into a thick, starchy paste in a garbage disposal and can pack a drain solid. Put them in the trash or compost instead.

Rice, pasta and stuffing

Starchy foods keep absorbing water after they go down the drain. They swell up and stick to everything around them, including that layer of grease.

Bones, fibrous vegetables and eggshells

Turkey bones don’t belong in a disposal. Celery, onion skins, corn husks and other stringy scraps wrap around the disposal blades, and eggshell grit settles in the pipe and helps build a clog.

Coffee grounds

Grounds don’t dissolve. They collect in the trap and the drain line, especially when they mix with grease.

Tips for a clog-free holiday

• Scrape plates into the trash before rinsing or loading the dishwasher.
• Run cold water while the disposal is on and for a few seconds after, and feed food in a little at a time.
• Spread out the dishwasher and laundry. Running the dishwasher, washing machine and showers for a house full of guests at the same time can overwhelm an older drain line.
• Keep a sink strainer in the drain while you prep and wash up.
• Skip chemical drain cleaners. They rarely clear a grease clog, they can damage older pipes and disposals, and they make the job more dangerous for whoever has to open the drain next.

Signs your drain line needs attention

• The kitchen sink drains slowly even with the disposal running.
• Water backs up into one side of a double sink when the other side drains.
• Gurgling from the sink or dishwasher.
• Water coming up in a tub or floor drain when you run the kitchen sink or washing machine. That can point to a clog in the main line, not just the kitchen drain.

If the sink backs up

1. Stop running water and turn off the dishwasher.
2. Don’t pour in chemical drain cleaner.
3. Try a sink plunger on the drain, with the other side of a double sink plugged.
4. If the disposal hums but won’t turn, turn it off at the switch and don’t keep trying it.
5. If other drains in the house are backing up too, stop using water and call a plumber. That points to the main line.

We clear kitchen lines with the right size cable or a hydro-jetter, and we can run a camera down the line to see what caused the clog and whether it’s likely to come back. Learn more about drain cleaning, or read about sewer line repair if the whole house is backing up.

Backed up on a holiday?

Call TPM Services at 702-932-5755. Our phone is answered 24/7, holidays included. More about our 24/7 emergency plumbing.