Pouring Your Grease Down The Drain Does More Harm To Your Pipes

Sioux Falls, SD

Freezing temperatures aren't the only things to watch out for with your pipes. 

Plumbers across KELOLAND say they're busy with a different issue.

The city of Yankton posted a photo with a pipe with fat build up; now plumbers are taking care of it. 



Falling temperatures and frozen pipes have plumbers out and about. 

"We've had the two busiest days in the history, we've been here since 1960," Jerry Cozad with Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain said. 
 
Cozad says along with the frozen pipes, he's seen others that are clogged with things like grease.

"It disappears out of your sink but then right when it gets into the line, it starts coagulating and just gets solidified right in your lines," Cozad said. 

"I just assumed like hot water, it would make the grease go all the way down like normal liquids...so," Sami Zoss said. 

Cozad says it's a common misconception.  Now that she knows, Zoss doesn't plan to do it again.

"Because the science behind it does make sense, hot water keeps the grease hot and it's going to go all the way down, until it gets cold because it's negative four out," Zoss said. 

Rather than dumping it down the drain, Cozad says a couple of easy steps could save you the headache and expense that comes with clogged pipes. 

"Take the grease and empty it into a container and throw it away. Scrape the plates, scrape your pan. Scrape them all into your garbage before you put them in the sink to clean them. Grease is always a bad thing to do. Grease is not a friend to anybody's drains," Cozad said. 

Cozad says a frozen pipe in general can run around $300 or more to fix.  But it could cost you more if the pipe is clogged with something like built up grease. 


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