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Holiday Cooking Grease Clogs Drains
Posted: Dec 27, 2012 6:08 PM by Mitch Bryan
Updated: Dec 27, 2012 6:45 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI - During the Christmas season, you probably prepared a home-cooked meal for your family and guests, But if you think back now, what did you do with the cooking grease in your pan afterwards?
If you poured it down the drain, you might have started a problem in the pipelines under your house.
Video taken by the city's Waste Water Department as they tried to unblock a pipe underneath a home on Airline.
"So this is inside an 8 inch pipe that and that's the connection to a home and that's grease right there," said Richard Eason, with the city's Waste Water Department.
That's right, the white goop caked along the walls of the pipe is all congealed cooking grease that the homeowner has been pouring down her kitchen sink.
"A lot of people don't know that you shouldn't put grease down the pipeline," Richard said.
I asked him, "I was under the impression that it was just an understood point that you just don't pour it. I mean, people out there really don't know?"
"No, most people don't know that," Richard.
It's that lack of knowledge that has Richard Eason's waste water crew going out nearly twice a week to handle a grease-blocked sewer line. And the task is not cheap.
"A lot of effort. It costs about a buck a foot," Eason said.
So in other words, a 200 foot pipe costs $200 dollars for the city to clean up. That is if you don't have to call a plumber first.
Richard said, "You're advancing down the pipeline, that has already been cleaned, however, you can see this blockage approaching us."
Richard tells me that grease floats, so these piles of gunk form floating islands that eventually stick to the walls of the pipe until you have a blockage like this one. According to Eason, the holidays mean more people cooking at home, and more people unknowingly pouring grease down the sink.
Richard added, "Our crews will be out on Christmas Day, unstopping someone's sewer line."
The biggest point that Richard wants to make is that it's just so easy to get rid of this grease appropriately so that the grease doesn't end up inside your drain. You simply pour the grease into one of these free grease traps or any tin can that you have lying around. You simply seal up the bag and throw it in the bin, it's just that simple.
A simple solution to prevent sewage from backing up into your home.
"You got a house full of guests from out of town, that's the last time you want to have a problem," said Eason.
So before you pour that grease down the drain, think about whether or not you want it coming right back later on, bringing all kinds of foul materials with it.
If you would like a free grease trap visit the Wastewater Department at 2726 Holly Road, Corpus Christi, Texas.
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