You wouldn’t flush fruit pits or rinds down your toilet, so why treat your kitchen plumbing any differently? It might sound crazy, but the pipes underneath your kitchen sink are no different than the pipes leading out of your bathroom, and therefore need to be treated with the same level of care. Yes, owning a garbage disposal in DuPont is a great way to reduce the risk of clogs, but garbage disposals were not designed to handle everything that homeowners throw their way. In fact, there are a variety of things that should never be thrown down your garbage disposal.
In case you aren’t sure what can and can not be thrown down your garbage disposal, keep reading below! We have provided our list of garbage disposal dos and don’ts.
Do or Do Not?
Here’s What You CAN Put Down Your Garbage Disposal
What good is a garbage disposal if you can’t use it? Of course, there are plenty of food items that your garbage disposal is great for, including:
- Citrus rinds
- Scraps of cooked meat
- Non-fibrous fruit scraps
- Non-fibrous veggie scraps
Here’s What You CANNOT Put Down Your Garbage Disposal
There are a number of things that should not be thrown down your garbage disposal, including:
- Fibrous food waste: Fibrous fruits and vegetables should not be thrown down your garbage disposal, as the fibers can tangle up around the blades of the disposal as well as clump into balls and form clogs. Either circumstance can result in a multitude of problems so it is important to avoid throwing these materials in your disposal altogether.
- Hard items: This includes items like bones and fruit pits. Yes, there are some newer garbage disposal systems on the market that advertise their ability to handle these items, however, you are better off avoiding these items to begin with.
Protect the Kitchen Sink Drain, Too
There are some items that you may hear plumbers say not to put down the garbage disposal, but this is a little bit of a misnomer. These are items you shouldn’t put down your kitchen sink drain, period–they will eventually cause stubborn and damaging drain clogs.
- Fats, oils, and grease: Also known as FOG, any sort of fat, oil, or grease should never be thrown down your garbage disposal. As these hot liquids cool, they become solids and end up getting caught in your drain pipes. These hardened substances are quite sticky and will eventually end up trapping other food materials, increasing the risk of large clogs.
- Rice and pasta: Though these foods are too soft to damage your garbage disposal, they can end up absorbing the water in your pipes, causing them to expand, which can certainly lead to blockages.
- Coffee grinds: Though small and seemingly harmless, coffee grounds should never be thrown down your garbage disposal as they can easily be caught in other substances, like fats, oils, and greases.
Be Sure to Hire a Professional
For all your kitchen plumbing needs, it is important that you hire a professional plumber. No matter if you are dealing with a leaky faucet or a clogged drain, an experienced plumber can help you. Sure, there are going to be plenty of amateurs willing to service your system, but sometimes an attempt to save money can end up costing you much more in the long run.
For all your plumbing needs, contact the experts at Brooks Plumbing Company.
