Drain maintenance for grease

[Ken]

I have a kitchen drain that I recently opened with a snake due to grease accumulation. I was able to do this from a cleanout plug close to the kitchen sink. I am careful not to pour grease down the drain, but I guess it happens naturally. Since I do not have a plugged up drain right now, I am wondering what I might do to reduce grease buildup in the future. I have read of vinegar and baking soda as an approach, but has anyone had success with something else?

[trader_4]

I've never had any success with any drain clearing products, but I've used them when there already was a problem, ie it was draining slow. Even Draino which is some powerful stuff, never worked for me. I've heard of the vinegar and baking soda idea, but I don't believe it. Vinegar won't penetrate grease. I think it's BS, based on the fact that they react and fizz, but I don't see it clearing a clogged drain.

One thing I do is if I'm washing anything that has obvious grease on it, eg a pan, I make sure to put extra dishwashing liquid on it and distribute it through all the grease to break it up. I think that likely helps it on it's way through the drain.

[invalid unparseable]

Hot water would melt it. If you are pouring down the drain it would solidify. If washed out with hot soapy water it would be emulsified. Caustic drain cleaner would attack it and vinegar or baking soda would be useless. I never put any grease in the drain. Nothing goes down the drain that I can put in the trash. If you need to dispose of it put it in a jar or bottle that you are putting in the trash.

I'm very particular because we have a septic and pumper once pointed out to me a waxy layer that had accumulated. He told me to never put grease down the drain and even use liquid laundry detergent which gave less build up.

[trader_4]

If you're washing typical pots, pans, dishes, etc you're putting grease in there. Most people don't actually pour grease in, but they still can wind up with clogged drains.

[rbowman]

Lye.

[hubops]

Ken ; just how often are you un-clogging it ? I clean-out my kitchen drain every 10 years or so - why would I waste time & money on useless chemicals. It's not a pleasant job but it takes about 15 minutes. John T.

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[Ken]

I have had problems in the past and tried to solve them with chemicals. Finally after decades I realized I needed to take a more serious action, hence the snake. I freed the stoppage but am trying to prevent further blockage. I guess I could do the snake again, but it is an unpleasant job. I have a grease jar where I put all possible grease, but some is unavoidable.

[Wade Garrett]

Can you use a snake if you have a disposal installed?

[Andy]

Another way to minimize grease going down drain is :

1. Pot very hot water and liquid soap in containers with grease and swish around and dump in toilet. I do that with bowls I eat out of and cooking pots.
2. Strain grease like from cooking ground beef etc thru a strainer into your garbage can.
3. One a month, pour a large pot of boiling water into kitchen drain

[Ken]

No, I used an access cleanout port below it to achieve that.

[Rod Speed]

Why is that any better than dumping it down the kitchen sink ? Once you get to the floor level, it’s the same sized pipe and there is a lot more shit in the toilet pipe.

I do dump that sort of superficial muck onto the long grass outside. Basically the grease that ends up in the big glass convection ovens. Don’t do much in those anymore now, just roast leg of lamb and stuff like that.

That likely just moves it a bit further down the drain. It won't stay hot for long with my big 6" earthenware drains.