Holiday Foods To Keep Out Of Your Garbage Disposal

Whether you are in charge of cooking the holiday family meal this year, or you are bringing the leftovers from your cousin’s holiday party to work—you need to know what holiday food items can’t go down your kitchen garbage disposal.

That’s why we here at Mangano Plumbing Sewer & Drain, are outlining the foods to keep out of your kitchen sink in today’s blog! Read on!

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Disposal Dont’s

Make sure to keep the following from rinsing down your kitchen drains!

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Christmas Ham and Hannukah Brisket

Meat does not belong in your sink! Small scraps of leftover meat from your guest’s dinner plates can be scraped into your sink; however, all bones must be tossed into your kitchen trash can. Poultry and meat bones will harm your disposal. When a bone goes down your disposal, it can lodge itself between your system’s blades. This stops your blades from moving, but your motor remains on. This can cause your entire disposal system to breakdown, as your motor will become overworked. If this occurs, you will need an entirely new garbage disposal.

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Stuffing and Potatoes

When water mixes with starches, such as potatoes, bread, and rice, the starch will expand. So, when a starch finds its way down your disposal, it will grow until a massive clog blocks water flow in your piping.

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High starch foods turn into a paste, clumping together. Avoid drain clogs by keeping your holiday starches out of your sink! That includes potato peels. I know you all love peeling your potatoes into your sink; however, if a peel slips into your drain, it can collect in your drain trap, wreaking havoc on your kitchen plumbing.

Make sure all starches are prepared over your trash and disposed of properly to avoid a drain clog.

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Grease, Oil, and Fats

Making latkes? All that excess oil cannot go down your disposal. When oils and other grease based substances, such as salad dressing and gravy, are washed down your kitchen sink, they coat your pipes, become sticky, and grab onto subsequent items coming down your drain. All of your excess oils should be thrown into your trash.

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Vegetable Side Dishes

The vegetable side dishes are the least harmful dishes of the holiday season! That is for our waistbands, not our drains. Fibrous vegetables, such as green beans, spinach, and eggplants, become stringy when shredded at the hand of your disposal. These shredded pieces then clump together in your pipes, forming a clot and blocking the flow of water. An imbalance of water in your pipes can lead to backflow, which will contaminate your potable water. To ensure your pipes remain operating in a healthy fashion—keep the fibrous veggies out of your sink.

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Fruit Pits for Pie

Peach pie and apple pie are everywhere this holiday season! Just make sure you keep your fruit pits out of your disposal when prepping your pie. Fruit pits are too hard for your disposal to cut down, and your disposal’s blades can break or crack. If you do end up with a broken blade, contact Mangano Plumbing Sewer & Drain for disposal repairs.

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Coffee Grounds

A nice hot pot of coffee at the end of a dinner party, or mid-day in the office after a few days off, is coveted. The one important thing to remember here has to do with the coffee grounds. When wet, coffee grounds form together. If you put coffee grounds down your disposal, at home or at work, you will cause a clog. You will need professional drain cleaning to restore proper water flow in your affected pipe.

For all of your residential or commercial garbage disposal repairs this holiday season, contact Mangano Plumbing Sewer & Drain at (631) 250-2556.

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• Plumbing