The kitchen is often full of activity, and it goes without saying that the kitchen drains take the brunt of the goings-on from cooking, to washing of dirty dishes, to cleaning of countertops, et cetera. For this reason, kitchen drains are highly susceptible to blockages, which can bring most activities in the kitchen to a complete standstill.
Here are a couple of drain care tips you can follow to keep your kitchen drains from clogging up, so you can avoid the need for expensive blocked drain repairs.
Hot water
Some typical uses of hot water in the home include food preparation, bathing, cleaning carpeting and washing clothes. But a little hot water poured into your drains every few days can also keep things flowing smoothly. Hot water right from the electric tea kettle will disintegrate cooking fats, oils and grease that may have congealed on the walls of your kitchen sink drains, waiting to cause problems later on.
Running boiling water into the kitchen sink is perhaps the easiest thing you will need to do to keep your domestic drains flowing properly. For added clog-clearing power, you can add a small amount baking soda to the hot water. Alternatively, you can pour a little amount of white vinegar down your kitchen drains just after pouring the hot water. Using baking soda or vinegar is better than turning to harsh chemical-based cleaners, which can be hard on your drains and lead to extensive damage.
Drain screen
In kitchens, placing a drain screen over the sink drain will help stop large chunks of food debris from entering the drains and causing blockages. Because the drain screen is designed to trap debris, it must be regularly removed by hand before it can be washed down the drain.
Most local hardware stores stock and sell drain screens at fairly low prices. All you need to do is measure your kitchen sink plughole before purchasing a drain screen to place over it. Installing a screen over your sink drain hole might seem like a small investment, but it can save you the time and money you could have spent fixing serious clogging issues.
Knowing you can always call in a professional plumber when you need blocked drain repairs sets your mind at rest. But knowing what you can do to prevent those dreaded clogged drains is even better — as it is commonly said, "prevention is better than cure."
