Bacon Grease, Why Is It Bad for Plumbing?

Some things don’t mix, like oil and water. Bacon grease and plumbing certainly fall into that category, yet people are still pouring bacon grease down their drains, thinking there’s no harm done. The truth is there aren’t many things more damaging to your plumbing than tossing grease down your drain! 

Few things plague our local plumbers more than finding grease clogs in a plumbing system. And the problem gets worse: tossing your grease down the drain can also cause problems in the entire sewer system. 

Today, we’ll talk about some of the biggest reasons throwing bacon grease down your drain can end up costing you, and all of Xenia, OH, a lot of bacon — and not the delicious kind. 

With a bit of knowledge, you can become a part of the solution and still enjoy bacon while disposing of the grease responsibly.

How Does Bacon Grease Clog Your Drain?

If any substance seemed to be perfectly designed to clog plumbing, it would be bacon grease. But what is it about the porky substance that seems to have everyone squealing with panic? Bacon grease has a few characteristics that make it ideal for wreaking havoc in your pipes.

It Solidifies

While the grease might start as a liquid when you’re cooking breakfast for the family, bacon grease ends up solid once it cools. So when you pour it down your drain, it ends up getting stuck in the pipe and can cause obstructions to water flow. 

There’s no stopping it, either. The more grease you pour, the more it will solidify, and the larger your blockage will become. It will grow and grow until you need the help of local plumbers to handle it. 

It Sticks to Everything

Even though the bacon grease will solidify on its way down your drain, that won’t stop it from grabbing onto everything that comes after it. Food scraps and garbage can easily become stuck in a greasy drain. 

That wad of grease and garbage can become enormous, and grease clogs longer than ten feet long are, unfortunately, more common than you’d think. That’s because of how sticky the grease is: it figures if it’s going down, it’s taking everything with it.

It Doesn’t Go Away on Its Own

You might be thinking, “Surely, if I just keep putting things down the drain, it’ll go away eventually? It has to get pushed out one way or the other?” 

Eventually, yes, grease does break down over time. But bacon grease isn’t satisfied with tearing through your home’s plumbing, and what it turns into can wreak havoc on the sewer systems. The fats break down into glycerol and fatty acids, attaching themselves to calcium in the sewer. 

These substances actually don’t end up going away on their own—they just grow and grow, becoming even more challenging for plumbers to tackle.

Bacon Grease and Plumbing in Your Home

What seems like a harmless “out of sight, out of mind” solution to disposing of your grease can become a huge problem. Bacon grease clogs are notoriously tricky to remove. And once the grease has thickened, it can block your drain entirely. The natural suction of a plumbing system isn’t enough to clear the blockage on its own.

And while the clog continues to amass more and more grease, there’s also a ton of damage happening to your plumbing’s infrastructure. The heavy grease could cause your pipes to eventually bend, leak, or even break entirely. 

Bacon Grease and Plumbing in the Wild

A “fatberg” is a term for the abomination created by the breakdown of pork fat in city sewers. These enormous clumps of grease and trash are responsible for around 47% of sewer overflows in the U.S. That figure is up to a staggering 71% in New York alone. 

If we all start being a bit more responsible with our grease disposal, we can fight fatbergs and keep our city pipes clean and healthy!

Dean’s Plumbing Can Help with Your Clog

If you’ve ended up with a hog of a clog, you’re not alone: plenty of people around the world pour bacon grease down the drain, not realizing the damage they’re doing. Dean’s Plumbing can help keep your home and all of Xenia, OH safe and clean with the help of our qualified professionals. 

Give us a call today, so you start living clog-free, and enjoying your breakfast bacon guilt-free!