hot water or cold water after pouring grease down a sink?

Answer 1

You should not pour grease down the drain.

That being said, use hot water. Cold water will cool it down and make it solidify in your drain.

But try not to pour grease down there. Put it in a can or bag and throw it away instead.

Answer 2

This answer is for most singe residential dwellings. Whether you have sewers or septics (or cesspool) doesn't affect the answer; though if you put a lot of grease into a septic tank it is a good idea to add a bacterial agent.

First, try not to put grease down your drain.
But if you do, NEVER run hot water to clear it out; always use cold water - as cold as possible!

Hot water will keep grease liquified. Since running any amount of water after grease will not totally clear the grease out of your drains, the liquification of the grease will cause it to build up in the drains (kind of like cholesterol in the arteries). I know that some people assert that you do in fact want to liquify the grease, but this is based on a misunderstanding of how efficiently the drainage system of a house normally works. (Talk to any person who installs/maintains cesspools and they will explain this.)

You should run cold water because this will cause the grease to coagulate. While some of it will still remain in the drains, most of it will run off with each usage of the system.

The idea of running hot water after grease is based on the faulty premise that hot water "cleans" better. Yes, hot boiling water does sterilize things, but that is not the aim when clearing grease from the drains.

Answer 3

Grease normally should not be poured down a sink because it clogs up the pipes (and if you have septic tank-it will kill the microbial action in it>meaning the tank will have to be cleaned sooner<.
But if you did that already, go with hot water, boiling hot to "melt that grease into thin liquid oils. Also add liquid dishsoap to the water to wash the plumbing. It is the same as washing your hands after hand making meatballs.....to get the grease off from the fats.

Answer 4

After my drains clogged some years ago an old, very experienced plumber told me this. Take it for what it is worth.

If you must pour grease down the drain, let it cool first. Then run cold tap water and the garbage disposal while pouring the grease. It causes the grease to harden in little granules that won't stick to the cold pipes or cog the drain. Instead, they wash right down.

You are much better off letting it cool then pouring it into an old can and throwing it in the trash. Grease is rough on sewage treatment plants and the environment.

Answer 5

From the other answers I suppose you get the picture! DON"T pour hot grease into any drains ! Sooner or later the grease will cool off in the drain unless you pour hot water into it constantly (who knows for how long ) and it will still cake up some where in your sewerline.Doing it once is not going to stop up the plumbing unless it sets up in the trap (pour very hot water in until you have drainage).Then forget about it and get on with your life(just DON'T do it again)!

Answer 6

My method after pouring grease down the sink, is to usually follow quickly by pouring some liquid dish detergent, which should help to cut the grease, down the drain and then flushing it with hot water. I am curious to learn how other people handle this situation.

Answer 7

I always thought hot water was the correct answer. I have a restaurant and we had several drain problems. I have had two plumbers tell me the following.
1. Never put grease down the drains!
2. When and if grease does go down the drain run cold water down the line for several minutes to flush the grease into the main lines.

While hot water makes sence, I have followed these two rules and have not been paying any plumbers as of late to clean my lines out.

Answer 8

I've always used hot water just because the method has been passed on to me and I've never had any problems. The cold water will cool the grease and cause it to become a solid more quickly then using hot water.

Answer 9

Hot water. And some dish detergent to help break down the grease particles. Cold water will solidify the grease and clog the pipes.

Answer 10

Hot but, I wouldn't pour grease down the sink...a bad thing to do. Run the hot with some detergent to rinse the pipe.