For starters it can be tempting at the time but food should really not be washed down the sink. You are really asking for trouble if you let lumpy bits of food wash away.
You are surely going to see this later on in the trap when you are forced into cleaning your kitchen sink to remove rotting, smelly food that should have gone in the trash in the first place and is now part of your kitchen sink maintenance routine.
Food debris
Food to avoid washing away includes things such as pop corn kernels, peelings from any vegetable or fruit, pasta shells, breads or butters. All of these can form a plug between your sink and your kitchen sink drain on the outside.
The combination of bread and butter is really good at clogging up a drain because it forms a gooey mixture, and clings to the sides and bottom of the waste outlet leading to more, dirty kitchen sink maintenance.
Consider getting a special trap that goes over the drain hole in the sink that has a fine mesh on it. This will trap a lot of food which you can then empty into the trash by removing the trap and tipping its contents away. This will make cleaning your kitchen sink a snap.
Washing Away Grease
Grease is another no, no when it comes to kitchen sink maintenance. It does not matter what type of grease it is. Nor does it matter if it’s hot or cold grease. Hot grease will not clean your waste pipe as some people think nor run any faster down a drain.
What it actually does is cling to the sides of it in any gap and forms a hard plug. It thickens very fast when exposed to the atmosphere beneath your sink.
It is far better to collect your excess grease in a container, let it cool then dispose of it into the garbage.
Use The Right Detergents
When cleaning your kitchen sink, make sure you use a detergent that is actually designed to be washed away in it.
Other types of detergents made for car washing or even for the dishwasher will clog it up, especially if you use in abundance. It seems logical that you’d be able to use a dishwasher liquid in the sink. However the force of the dishwashers agitating action breaks apart the thicker detergent where you just rinsing it down the drain will not and will give you a kitchen sink maintenance headache.
The same applies for a clothes washer too. The detergent itself is exposed to the agitating and breaks down.
No Oils Down Your Sink
As with grease from the kitchen never allow mechanical or cleaning oils down your sink.
Oil based products designed for outside cleaning have a strong petroleum based formulation.
Lubricating oils for joints or hinges, and motor oil are probably the worst culprits that not only make cleaning your kitchen sink a nightmare but are also dangerous and illegal to pour away.
People have tried pouring these products down their sinks and have had horrible blockages develop in the drainage system.
You need to know that it’s against the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency to pour motor oil in anything besides a designated container for it. You could get into huge legal and financial trouble if any traces of it show up in a water contamination test. It’s not worth the risk, and it’s bad for the environment too.
Hopefully these few tips will make cleaning your kitchen sink much less of a chore and much easier.
Lorraine Smith runs an information web site that provides free kitchen ideas and a gallery of kitchen design photos visit her site for more free tips and ideas.
