Pumpkin Clogs Drains
Quote: Roto-Rooter, America’s largest provider of plumbing and drain cleaning services, reminds jack-o'-lantern carvers that sticky pumpkin pulp should never be put down drains or into garbage disposers. The goop is ideal for clogging household drains.
"The slimy, stringy material dries and hardens inside pipes and disposers, causing all sorts of problems," said Larry Rothman, plumbing director for Roto-Rooter. If I had a disposer I still wouldn't have thought about doing this, but you might pass the word on to others. Don't do it. |
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| oh. thank goodness i didn't read this earlier. i thought my drain was thankful it wasn't stinky kimchi for once.
but really.. that surprises me. if the disposal is made to take food, i would think it could take on something with the texture of... i don't know, but it ain't no apple. I normally don't use it at all. i throw everything in the trash, but my husband thinks his entire meal can go down there. i wonder what else can't go down that we've already stuck down there? |
| You shouldn't put things like rice (or barley) or celery down there. Stringy things or clumpy things are good things to avoid... |
oh, rice was a daily treat.  |
| They were interviewing a plumber once on NPR who said the busiest time of year for him was after Thanksgiving Dinner with clogged drains. |
| Well, growing up, in my house, it wasn't Thanksgiving until we had to call a late night plumber to unclog our sink! |
| What's a good way to clean your drain?
I remember hearing it once on tv, but I forgot. May have been something with baking soda or vinegar? My brain is dead right now from studying for a test. |
| Baking soda and vinegar would probably work. Previous houses with disposers I'd put down lemons with baking soda.
One wonders with all the "don'ts" what one can put down. Having been in septic, this house doesn't have a disposer. Now on sewer so could add one, but not high priority at all. Dogs take care of much, compost more, rest is garbage. susan |
| disposals have gotten much better and stronger in the last few years, so there is much more that you can put down them safely. But after having a few clogs, I'm more of the better safe than sorry mindset and tend to pitch things rather than put them down the disposal. |
| When we carve pumpkins we put everything on the kitchen floor on newspapers... makes for easier clean up.
I can't stand the smell of pumpkin guts... blech.... |
| okay, I willl try the baking soda and lemon.
lol, we do the newspaper stuff too. I really only put a littly tiny in there. I baked the yummiest pumpkin seeds yesterday. I can't stop eating them! |
| You can also grind ice cubes in the disposal to help clean it. I think the key is to make sure that you run water and the disposal for long enough after putting something down. I think a lot of the problems and clogs occur when people only run it for a few seconds, then turn the water off right away. It doesn't give the disposal and pipes time to clear. |
Joahaeyo wrote: What's a good way to clean your drain?.
Bleach!  Hubby is a plumber of 17 yrs and says Bleach is just as good as Liquid Plummer and the rest of those drain cleaners and much much cheaper. |
| I learned the hard way not to put potato peel down the garbage disposal. |
| I put everything and everything down or disposal just to test it's strength. Actually, I put everything down there just because I can. My husband bought us an industrial strength garbage disposal after the last one died. I'm pretty sure I could dispose of a body in this one! It actually shakes the whole counter when it's really working. I have lost quite a few wine glasses off the edge of the sink when disposing of dinner remains! |
| I don't know why, but a vision of Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and the Binford 6000 dishwasher just ran through my head.
OK, I do know why. |
Ron wrote: I don't know why, but a vision of Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and the Binford 6000 dishwasher just ran through my head.
Did it hurt?  |
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| I told Jason about this, and the same night, he had a call come in about a plumbing problem. Well, after hours, he has to go to these calls and see if someone needs to be called in to fix the problem or if it can wait until the next morning (and save overtime $).
Well, the same night I told him about this, he went to the house. He saw the pumpkins sitting on the table, and he told the lady "Just today, my wife told me that pumpkin pulp could clog drains, and I needed to tell the plumbers to send out a warning to housing residents about it. Seeing those pumpkins on the table, I can't help but wonder if that's the problem now." Jason said she kind of blushed and said "You would be right." Kind of weird it happened the night I told him about it! Oh...and the plumbers did send out a warning the next morning. |
| Everytime I peel potatoes.. it doesn't matter if I get a few peels down there or like the first time I did it, a lot of peels The disposal gets clogged!! So I keep the potatoes away from the disposal!
Nic |
| I clogged the disposal with potato peels this Thanksgiving. Thank goodness my husband is really handy and fixed it himself! But potato peels are a big problem because they compact instead of shredding. |
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