how to stop fats clogging up the pipes/drain?

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#2670542 9-Mar-2021 16:16

If you mean the drain from the kitchen gully trap to property connection.
If your drains are not flowing away to mains for what ever reason. Then there is cold water sitting in the drain. Every time enough hot fat lands on the cold water if will solidify to a disk or plug.
Yes a simple drain auger down the gully trap should work. Or schedule use of drain cleaning products.
Try to tip fats into a container to solidify, and dispose of.
A grease trap could be installed under sink or external. These will need to be cleaned out.

tdgeek

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#2670543 9-Mar-2021 16:16

Batman:

I haven't done chemistry for a while but doesn't the acid react with the base and neutralises each other?

Yes, you end up with sodium acetate, and yes don't mix. But baking soda is alkaline, its great for dissolving fatty stuff on ovens and range hoods. If you have access to add that to the drainpipe, our last house had a vertical breather that was in the kitchen behind the dishwasher. id try adding a good amount of warm water and baking soda, mixed, leave for 10 to 15 minutes for it to dissolve/soften, but it depends what access you have to flush it out. At our last house, the outside drainpipe had an access cap, I once pushed alkathene pipe down it. Maybe add an access cap? So its flushable and DIY fixable

tdgeek

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#2670546 9-Mar-2021 16:19

andrewNZ: I suspect the cause of this is likely the lack of warm soapy water being run through the pipes. Back when everyone washed by hand, there was a lot more warm detergent laden water going down the drain. Detergent does a pretty good job of breaking up the fat in the sink and letting it flush properly.

The main issue I have isn't fat, it's just general bits of waste that never get fully flushed and settle in the pipes. I'm pretty sure it's a result of not enough water to flush it through.

One bit sticks when dry. Another bit rests up against. and so on.

Fred99

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#2670547 9-Mar-2021 16:22

timmmay:

Fred99:

It might be able to be water-blasted by a drainlayer / drain cleaning company. (they use a 360 deg nozzle at the end of flexible hose). Maybe get it inspected in case something's causing issues. I got all our sewers and stormwater inspected and cleaned after quakes to check for damage, cost was about $200 all up (8 or 9 years ago, so will probably be a bit more now.

Part of the problem I had recently was the camera for the plumber got stuck in an old style drain under the concrete. That was one reason he had to dig up the concrete, second reason was to fix the actual problem. So with older houses be a bit careful with this.

Yeah - our clay pipes were stuffed after the quakes, the rubber rings had dropped out of many pipe joins because of ground movement- so apart from leaking sewage, tree roots would have eventually got in and blocked everything. There was no obvious sign of issues, but $200 invested to find $7.5k in needed repairs, the total paid by insurance - without question. $7.5k was cheap, didn't include cost of replacing concrete paths etc, which were a separate claim. A surprising number of people including builder/project managers managed to replace concrete driveways etc without inspecting drains first, a mistake that came back to bite them later.

richms

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#2670549 9-Mar-2021 16:24

Sink full of hot water before emptying the deepfryer out down the sink and running hot water afterwards takes care of it for me.

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#2670551 9-Mar-2021 16:24

We had a similar problem where we’d have to flush the kitchen sink with hot soapy water on occasion to clear it. When we had the kitchen renovated the plumber ran a new drain pointing out that whoever had installed the last one did a rubbish job where one part was too level for too long under the house. It was also right on a bend. New drain pipe and all’s great since.

He did also say not to put that stuff down the drain not that we thought we did very much at all.

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MikeB4

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#2670552 9-Mar-2021 16:29

richms:

Sink full of hot water before emptying the deepfryer out down the sink and running hot water afterwards takes care of it for me.

@richms It may get through your waste pipe but it will hit the cooler water in the sewer and cause fatbergs. There is a very good chance that you are creating expensive problems for your neighbours. Never pour fats down the drain.

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Fred99

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#2670553 9-Mar-2021 16:30

richms:

emptying the deepfryer out down the sink.

ratsun81

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#2670557 9-Mar-2021 16:44

Batman:
ratsun81:

Baking soda and 10% Concentrate White Vinegar will help out for unclogging and cleaning.

I haven't done chemistry for a while but doesn't the acid react with the base and neutralises each other?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Invxjkna5o

Im going to assume your place was built before the 90's?

Ive had plenty experience of clogged pipework, any property that is 20+ years old (generalising here) will have clay/earthenware pipes. The underlying issue is you are getting tree roots in the pipes.

I regularly had similar problems, Fats getting stuck in the waste from the kitchen and even worse was when the sewer clogged up a number of times.

After about 5+ callouts to get the pipes unclogged it becomes obvious that there's something else going on. We ended up getting all of our pipes replaced.

If any plumber shows up and suggests that your pouring oil down the drain and it takes a long time for the problem to re-occur, go find a new tradesman.

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tdgeek

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#2670584 9-Mar-2021 18:46

I dont think the OP is pouring a frypan full of fat down the drain. Everyone sues oil these days, the fats are just residue not a litre worth?

MikeB4

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#2670595 9-Mar-2021 19:08

@tdgeek the fat builds up in the drains bit by bit you don't need to be pouring litres at a time. Rinsing fat residue off pots, pans and plates will do the damage.

K8Toledo

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#2670705 9-Mar-2021 21:04

Batman:

the dishwasher pipe is not the pipe that's blocked.

it's the sewer pipe that the dishwasher and sink discharges to.

i've amended my post.

rinsing all the fat into the pipe is what's causing it to block i guess

It blocks because the fat cools then solidifies as it travels down the pipe, this builds up over time.

About 20yrs ago I worked for a septic tank cleaning company we got regular calls to unblock drains clogged with fat. No tree roots just fat.

Best to pour it outside rather than down the sink.

andrewNZ

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#2670782 9-Mar-2021 23:35

I think it's well established here that the OP isn't pouring grease straight down the drain, the issue is residue on items being washed. Short of installing a grease skimmer, I don't think there's a lot more they can practically do to reduce the quantity going down the drain.

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#2670791 10-Mar-2021 01:06

15M 4000 PSI Cleaning Kit for Pressure Washer Sewer Jetter Kit 1/4 Inch, Drain Jetting, Laser and Rotating Sewer Nozzle

I bought a long hose with rear facing jets off Amazon last year when I was in USA and brought it back. It attaches to a standard pressure washer and the pipe is relatively rigid. Shoved it up from the drain access about 10m from our main building and drains are fast to clear.

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Batman

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#2670885 10-Mar-2021 08:57

Thanks all points taken.

Will try to remember to scrape grease and use baking soda when washing greasy stuff.

Any point in using basking sofa in dishwasher or do the finish powerballs dissolve well enough?

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