How Do Homeowners Eliminate Drain Odors
The best way to eliminate foul kitchen drain odors is keeping food waste out of the drain. Odors occur from grease and food buildup in the line that sits and causes the smell. If homeowners do have a disposer, treat it gently by only using it for small particles left on plates. A disposers best job is to push those last particles down the line. Use a degreasing soap once a month and always use water when running the disposer.
If there is a large amount of buildup and homeowners are experiencing bad smells and constant clogs, it is recommended that they invest in a kitchen drain hydro-jetting service. Using high powered water through a jetting machine, plumbers can eliminate the buildup and restore the inside of the drains diameter to clear the line. Many restaurants perform this as ongoing maintenance, but homeowners can experience the same buildup and clogs through daily use.
Fibrous Vegetables Are Harder To Dispose Than Most Foods
Yes, fibers again. Although the health benefit of fibrous vegetables cannot be overlooked, they don’t go so well with your plumbing system. Vegetables like corn, asparagus, and celery have high fiber concentration, which gets stuck in the garbage disposal. Potato peels also have the same issue, clinging to pipes and creating hard-to-remove clogs.
Will Coffee Grounds Clog A Garbage Disposal
Avoid putting coffee grounds down the garbage disposal too. Apart from causing drainage clogs, coffee grounds are a major cause of disposal clogs and jammed garbage disposal systems.
However, if you accidentally dump ground coffee beans down the kitchen sink disposal, make sure you run enough water to wash them down.
If you dont do that, they will dry out and settle between the impellers or in the drain pipes.
Once this happens, even if you run lots of water, the liquid wont be able to push through and remove the dried grounds that are stuck.
If you dont flush the coffee grounds with water timely every day they will eventually accumulate and block your garbage disposal or drain.
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How To Dispose Of Coffee Grounds From A French Press
It might seem too much of a hassle for you to dispose of used coffee grounds the right way, especially if you use a full-immersion brewing method with a device like the French press.
Pour over drippers and drip coffee makers come with convenient-to-throw-away paper filters that you can easily grab and dispose of without creating a mess.
But when you see the grounds on the bottom of the French press you might be tempted to rinse it in the sink and let all the grounds go down the drain.
Its actually easy to avoid doing that. You just need a metal strainer.
Before I start with the whole process of cleaning a French press, I remove its plunger and dismantle the brewing chamber from its metal base.
So heres how to dispose of used French press coffee grounds easily:
Do I Put Garbage On The Curb
Place the trash can and the trash can on the curb with the wheels facing your house and the lid open facing out. Keep trash cans three to three feet away from obstacles such as mailboxes, cars, street lights, or power lines. Put the container on the side of the road if you don’t pick it up at the end of the day.
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What Dissolves Coffee Grounds
Dissolving coffee grounds can be difficult to do. Coffee grounds are far tougher than many realize. Simply running hot water over the coffee grounds is not usually enough to break down the oils and loosen the coffee grounds, and dissolving them requires some very powerful chemicals.
The chemicals that are capable of completely dissolving coffee grounds, for whatever purpose, are very caustic and may cause damage to whatever the grounds are clogged in.
This could be kitchen drains or coffee machine equipment, or even filters for brewing pots such as a french press.
The chemicals that can be used to dissolve coffee grounds are dangerous and should be handled with extreme caution.
One such product that can be used to dissolve coffee grounds is Powdered Brewery Wash . This caustic cleaner is designed to break down oils and other organic compounds, dissolving them so that they can be cleaned easily.
PBW can be used to break down coffee grounds that have become clogged in plumbing or in coffee pots but should not be used in coffee machines, such as espresso makers, as the product is likely to cause damage to a coffee machine.
There are other products that do not necessarily dissolve coffee grounds but are just as effective at removing stubborn grounds that are causing various types of blockages.
Using caustic cleaners should be a last resort when trying to dissolve coffee grounds, as they are very dangerous to work with.
Can You Put Coffee Grounds Down The Sink Shocking Truths Revealed
Every day, coffee drinkers everywhere are faced with a question: whats the best way to dispose of used coffee grounds? Can you put the coffee grounds in the sink, or is it better to throw them in the garbage? The situation is even more complex if you have garbage disposal after all, its designed to handle solid waste.
Plumbers agree you should never put coffee grounds down the sink. Over time, they can build up and clog the pipes, creating a wide range of potentially expensive plumbing problems.
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Can Coke Unclog A Sink
Coke. Coke is a lesser-known fix you can find in your refrigerator. Pour a 2-liter bottle of cola Pepsi, Coke, or generic brand substitutes down the clogged drain. Coke is actually quite caustic and effective at clearing away buildup in your drains, but its far milder than commercial drain cleaners.
Reputation Is Becoming More Important To The Plumbing Contractor
A small business I am familiar with begins taking their online reputation seriously, so because of an industry recommendation they begin using reviewbuzz. com. As I mentioned above, a company can monitor their reviews and send customers to the site to review them and post that review to any number of other review sites. If you need Facebook reviews you can steer the customer to Facebook, Google the same, etc. In the midst of all of this new reputation management they see that Yelp has 2 bad reviews visible and between 8 and 10 that are filtered. Only the visible unfiltered reviews count for your Yelp rating. You can still go in and read the filtered reviews but who bothers when the only 2 you see are horrible? I shall add here that the 2 bad reviews were done by people who had 1 and 2 Yelps respectively, so they were not active Yelpers. Because the service technicians leave a small Review Buzz card they began asking them to choose to place their review on Yelp. Sounds logical right? Read on……
So shortly after, I began getting involved and I decid to do a bit of digging to see what could be done to raise this company’s Yelp rating and to address the negative reviews either by having the contractor contact the customer or by having the review taken down because it was inaccurate. Here is what I have found:
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Naturally Cleanse Hair Of Product Residue
Youcan also use those used coffee grounds on your hair. This helps work like aclarifying shampoo to remove buildup from your styling products. Your hair willfeel fresh and revitalized. Again though, make sure you capture the groundswith a sieve or filter to prevent them from going down the drain. You can alsogo out in the yard and use the garden hose to rinse your hair of the groundsand right into your ground to further repurpose them.
Everyday Things That Are Clogging Your Drain
4 Everyday Things That Are Clogging Your Drain
Clogged drain got you down? Youre not alone.
Clogs are one of the most common plumbing problems you can experience. You want to do the dishes, but the sink is already overflowing. You want to go to the bathroom, but the toilet wont flush. You want to have a shower, but you dont want to stand around in 4 inches of gross clog-water.
We get itclogs are annoying. And while theyre not completely preventable, there are a few things you should never, ever put down a drain.
Remember: If it can fit down a drain, it can clog a drain. Here are some of the worst offenders:
Coffee Grounds
Back in the day, people thought coffee grounds were good for their pipes. It keeps them clear, they would say, as they dumped their morning grounds down their delicate plumbing system. And smelling fresh!
Not true. So not true.Coffee grounds are as good as cement in pipes. When you dump a mass of soggy grounds down the drain, theyll turn into an impenetrable nightmare.
What to do instead:Compost them, or spread them in your garden. Coffee grounds make excellent fertilizer!
Hair
Long, luxurious locks are the main culprits here, but even short hair can contribute to a clogged drain.
If left to its own devices, loose hair can quickly turn into a massive glob thats tangled with soap scum, water deposits and whatever else happened to find its way into your drain. Not pretty.
Grease
Paper
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Howto Save Coffee Grounds For Later Use
Sonow that you know that putting coffee grounds down your drain is bad news, itstime to find out how to put them to better use!
Takea coffee filter and put it in your sink above the drain. Then pour thoseremaining grounds into the filter. You can then gather up the sides of thefilter carefully and move it from your sink without making a spectacular mess.If you use a coffeemaker, you can simply pull the coffee filter with the groundsout, again being cautious since its flimsier now and more prone to spilling.
Onceyouve got those grounds ready, you can use them and reap the many benefitsbesides merely making a lovely pot of coffee every morning.
Can I Throw Coffee Grounds On My Lawn
Yes. Even if you dont have a garden, your lawn will also benefit from ground coffee. In particular, the earthworms attracted by ground coffee work to aerate your lawn.
References
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What To Do With Your Coffee Grounds And How To Properly Dispose Of Your Coffee Grounds
Instead of pouring your coffee grounds down the sink you can actually use them for a lot of different things around the house. They have many practical uses and can even be incorporated into your beauty routine.
If you are interested in some creative ways to use your coffee grounds click here to read our article on 20 creative uses for coffee grounds.
If you arent interested in learning about different ways to use your coffee grounds you should learn how to correctly dispose of your coffee grounds.
Usually you can just dump your coffee grounds into the trash, but in some special cases you may want a small container with a lid to toss your coffee grounds in.
These cases are if you have pets or are afraid of mold.
Coffee grounds are toxic to pets and if your pet has the tendency of getting into your trash you should get a small container with a lid that you can toss your coffee grounds into. Read why pets should not have coffee at this article.
As for the mold, coffee grounds get moldy extremely easily, and if you are sensuitive to spores in the air you will want to have a special covered container for your coffee grounds.
How To Unclog A Sink Drain Clogged By Coffee Grounds
Contents
Electric garbage disposals have made it easy to get rid of food waste and kitchen scraps. However, plumbing pipes and garbage disposals arent designed to safely handle some waste matter like coffee grounds.
Unfortunately, most people dump them down the drainage. Coffee grounds have fine consistency, making them easy to stick onto other debris existing within the pipes. Consequently, they obstruct the drainage or enlarge the existing clog.
Luckily, clearing clogs resulting from coffee grounds isnt difficult. You can actually save some money by doing it yourself. Our reliable and professional local plumbing team in Sydney have put together a list of steps to follow below.
Heres how to fix a drain clogged by coffee grounds:
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Take Apart The Drain Under The Sink
This is where a lot of home DIY plumbers get nervous. Its fine using a plunger or a snake, but anxiety tends to spike anytime its time to take some pipes apart.
The plumbing under your sink isnt all that complex. You do, though, have to turn off the water source before you start doing any work.
There is usually a knob attached to a silver pipe underneath your sink. Thats the water source. Turning it will switch off the water from the sink faucet. If your sink is off, its no big deal, but better safe than sorry.
Put on some gloves because things can get a bit dirty. Remove the coupling nutsbut first, remember what order they were installed in so you can put them back together properly. If they are too tight, break out the pliers or a wrench to help free them up.
Clear the pipes, especially the curved portion called the p-trap from any coffee grounds, hair, and whatever else is in there. Reattach, turn the water back on, and see if its clear.
Turn the water on slowly, though, because if you havent screwed things back on tightly enough, you could spot a leak. Readjust until things are perfect.
Tankless Water Heater Replacement
Tankless water heaters typically have a lifespan of more than doubles a traditional tank. Different factors can influence this length of time such as water hardness, regular maintenance, and the age of your heater. Once the lifetime of a water heater ends, it will start showing signs such as:
- Loud noises
- Less efficiency
- Frequent tripping of the circuit board
If your water heater is showing any of these signs, it may be time to consider a replacement. Costs may seem large up front but save you money in the long run.
With water heaters, newer is usually better. New models must uphold new laws and regulations related to energy efficiency and water conservation. Both can save you money on your bills and will help you to recoup the cost of the initial investment of a new heater.
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Citrus Rinds In The Disposer
Just like coffee grounds, some people swear by citrus rinds for a dirty disposal and smelly kitchen sink. According to Insinkerator, a popular brand of disposers, it is okay to put small bones, leftovers, peels, fruits and vegetables into a disposer. Bill Howe Plumbing politely disagrees.
Most disposers, even the smaller ¾ horsepower, have the capacity, blades and strength to grind up organic food items. This does not mean those items should go down the drain, especially starchy foods like potato peels. Anyone with a clogged drain on Thanksgiving knows this firsthand. The best place for all of these items is a compost system, or the trash bin.
Disposers will process food items, and in homes with plastic piping they will not stick, but these items do travel down and into main sewer lines where they can accumulate and clog, which could require repair services. When you find yourself with a clogged drain and last nights dinner coming up through the bathtub, you will experience this firsthand.
If your pipes are cast iron, that is even more of a reason to not allow large amounts of food items or other materials in the drain as they can attach to the grease in the line, building up on the inside of the cast iron over time. Cast iron is good material for pipes because it is sturdy, quiet and long lasting. However, it is also a more porous material than ABS or PVC plastic piping and allows for accumulation of anything that goes into the line.
Clearing Your Sinks P
Most clogs in your sink occur in the P-trap.
This is the U-shaped piece of pipe under your sink. This is the second method you can try if plunging your sink does not work.
The first step to this method is locating the P-trap. Most likely your grounds will be located in a U-shaped pipe right under your sink basin. Once you find it place a bucket to catch any water or spills that may happen.
Once you have the section of pipe you want to remove look for nuts that you can loosen that connect it to the grain and to your sink. You may need a wrench to loosen these nuts. If you have plastic pipes you should be able to do this with your hands.
Once this piece of pipe is disconnected, insepct the insides and try to remove anything blocking the flow of water.
Aftwards, just reverse the steps and put your P-trap back together!
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