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Dealing with a sink drainage that is clogged by fats and cooking oil can be quite challenging. Oil clogs are quite unpleasant to deal with. Clogged sinks are a misfortune that can happen to any household.
A clogged sink drain comes with several consequences. For instance, you can experience hideous smells or even floods and power outages in worst-case scenarios.
Clogged sinks are the worst plumbing problem that a business such as a restaurant can experience. It’s always necessary to have running drains at all times in a business establishment and even at home.
Luckily, a sink drain clogged by fats and oil can be unclogged without seeking professional assistance from our local 24 hour plumbing service team. You can also prevent such clogs by yourself.
Plunging the Sink
If your sink is already clogged, you can plunge it to remove the clogs. While using a plunger to unclog a sink is an old technique, it’s still a highly effective method of dealing with drain clogs.
Plunging the sink creates a tight vacuum seal around the drain opening, thereby pulling the trapped clogs and water toward the drain opening.
Since oils solidify upon cooling, the plunger removes them effectively like the way it dislodges other types of debris that block drain pipes.
Using Detergents
Another method of clearing oil deposits from the drain is diluting them with detergents. A detergent dilutes their density, making them easier to get flushed down the drain. In this method, take a cup of detergent and mix it with boiling water.
Then pour the solution down the affected sink. Hot water will soften the solidified oils whereas the detergent will break them down.
Next, run hot water down the sink for some minutes by turning on the hot water faucet. Doing so will flush out the drain thoroughly.
If you don’t flush the sink drain with some warm water, any oil deposits left behind may re-harden and clog the drain once again.
Commercial Drain Cleaning Products
You can also unclog the sink drain using chemical drain cleaning products. These products are available from local hardware stores and supermarkets.
The products contain chemicals that work by breaking down solidified oils. Most drain cleaners work within half an hour.
Once the chemicals break down the fats, flush the drain with some warm water to prevent the chemical from damaging the pipe and to flush out the dissolved oils.
Remember to wear protective clothing like goggles and gloves when working with chemical cleaners to avoid eye and skin burns.
Preventing Oil Clogs
Cooking oils used in the kitchen on a daily basis are a major cause of clogs in the drains. Cooking oils such as olive oil and vegetable oil should never be disposed into a garbage disposal or the sink drain.
In fact, they should never be poured down any kind of drain. The fats that are part of the compounds making up cooking oil harden upon coming into contact with cold water.
The oils are heated when cooking. They tend to solidify once they come into contact with cold water in a drain pipe. The solidified fats create stiff deposits within the drain pipes.
The solidified deposits block the drain. The best way to dispose of cooking oil is by pouring it into a sealable jar or bottle and disposing them in the garbage bin once the fats coagulate. This way, your drains will be free of oils.
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