Common Foods You Should Avoid Putting Down Your Sink

A garbage disposal is a very helpful addition to a kitchen. Many people rely on their garbage disposal to get rid of all their food scraps and leftovers. While a disposal does get rid of many scraps, there are some that will not only damage your garbage disposal but will damage and clog your drains as well. Here are some common foods that should not be going down a sink drain.

Rice & Pasta

“Rice is so small and will be fine to go in the garbage disposal, right?” Wrong! When rice is first cooked, it expands with exposure to water. This will also happen within the drains of a home. Rice also becomes a very sticky substance that catches other foods going down a garbage disposal. Rice may be small but it can cause big problems with clogging in pipes. 

Similarly to rice, pasta is a food that expands when soaked in water and other liquids. To steer clear of clogged drains in your sink by disposing of pasta another way.

Egg Shells 

Egg shells may seem delicate and harmless to put down your sink. However, they tend to stick to the sides of drains as well as the blades of a garbage disposal. Stuck on egg shells can also harden in place making it almost impossible to remove. There are many ways to dispose of egg shells, down the drain should not be one of them.

Coffee Grounds

Putting coffee grounds down a garbage disposal does have it’s benefits. The grounds will eliminate any bad smells coming from your drain. However, they can cause some bad effects on your plumbing system. The grounds can accumulate within your piping system and cause clogging. 

Fats & Oils

Pouring that extra, hot cooking oil or excess grease down the drain may be easy to do but can coat and harden to the walls of the pipe. This is a recipe for fast clog. Build up oils and grease can also start smelling very unpleasant. The only way to get rid of oil and grease buildup is to call a professional plumber to clean out your pipes.