2 Reasons Your Sink Keeps Clogging And How To Fix It

Enough is enough! Find out how you can fix a kitchen sink that clogs the whole time.

When a kitchen sink keeps getting clogged, there are two main reasons. A stubborn blockage keeps returning or the plumbing was incorrectly installed. You can fix this by changing your disposal habits in the kitchen, removing the blockage or by correcting the faulty plumbing design.

You don’t have to tolerate this annoying problem. Discover why clogging happens and how to banish it from your kitchen sink forever.

Read Next: How to fix your gurgling kitchen sink .

The Reasons Why A Kitchen Sink Keeps Clogging

When a kitchen sink drains slowly or the water stays in the sink, those are clear signs that the pipes in your kitchen are experiencing a blockage. An enthusiastic attempt with the plunger might solve the issue - and if you are lucky, the problem will stay gone.

Unfortunately, many homeowners sit with a kitchen sink that drains, clogs, drains, backs up, drains, clogs - you get the idea. When plunging fails to help, then two things are likely behind the sink’s habit of clogging.

1. Incorrect kitchen disposal habits.
2. Incorrect installation of the plumbing.

Most of us are guilty of flushing bits and bobs down the kitchen sink. That oily pan’s grease swirls down the drain. We flush our coffee cups and don’t worry about the coffee grains that disappear into the drain. Vegetables go down the garbage disposal. The truth is that all of these things are major pipe blockers.

Sometimes, even with the best kitchen disposal habits, a sink still clogs every day. If your sink has been newly installed or you just moved into a new place, this points to faulty installation. Plumbing is designed to allow water, air, and gases to flow freely out of the home and towards the sewer or an outside vent. The faulty installation makes this difficult or impossible, leading to kitchen sinks that cannot drain properly.

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This Is How Incorrect Disposal Habits Clog Your Sink

It does not matter if you clean your kitchen drain on a regular basis. If a family keeps throwing the wrong stuff down the sink, it will keep getting clogged. Luckily, there is no mystery about what foodstuffs cause the most trouble. Here are the main dangers.

• Oil and grease.
• Vegetables and rice.
• Coffee grounds.

How Oil And Grease Can Clog Your Kitchen Drain

Fat, grease, and oil are particularly bad for your drain. While most other foodstuffs completely flush out of the system or form a single blockage, oil and grease do something far worse. Firstly, they are gummy enough to cause a serious block in the drain. A plunger might remove enough pieces to return some degree of drainage. But there are several reasons why plunging is not your secret weapon against fats and grease.

Plunging cannot remove all of the greases that sticks to the sides of the pipe. Each time you throw oil down the drain, a new layer sticks to the old congealed sides and harden it even more. While plunging can dislodge a chunk, it can never clean this layer-upon-layer accumulation that is narrowing the inside of the pipe like a fatty artery.

1. The best way to deal with this sticky situation is to avoid it in the first place. Drain your oily pans in a separate container and dispose of the grease in another way.
2. If you’re already facing this issue, there are drain cleaners you can buy and use to clear up the system.
3. You can also manually remove the p-trap and give it a proper cleaning.
4. If the oils have congealed too badly, you can focus on cleaning the sink pipe but replace the p-trap with a new one.

How Vegetables And Rice Can Clog Your Kitchen Sink

A good rule is never to put foodstuff down your kitchen sink. It seems like common sense when you have a normal sink but most people do not realize that even a sink with a food disposal system cannot handle certain things. Some of the worst culprits are:

• Rice.
• Vegetables.
• Eggshells.
• Meat (raw and cooked).
• Bones.

Here are great tips to keep your garbage disposal clean .

Organic matter can turn into slimy and sticky gunk that cause obstructions and make other things stick to it - which just makes the blockage grow even more. But rice and vegetables are particularly bad for normal drains and disposal systems. How so? Well, once they go down the drain, the environment is a watery one. Things like rice, potatoes, beans, and some fruits swell and turn into a goop that sticks to the interior of the pipes.

1. Never throw foodstuff down a disposal system and definitely not in a sink without one.
2. Try a drain snake to dislodge the blockage.
3. If the blockage is in the p-trap, you can try to flush it or manually remove and clean the trap.
4. Pour boiling water down the drain to try and soften and dissolve the organic matter that is causing the clogging.

How Coffee Grounds Can Clog Your Kitchen Sink

A scoop of coffee might make your day but it’s one of the worst offenders when it comes to a kitchen sink that refuses to stay unclogged. Looking at coffee grounds, one can be forgiven for thinking that they can do no harm. They are small and innocent-looking. The truth is that they can worsen an existing blockage or form one on their own - a barrier that is particularly effective at stopping water and airflow.

The good news is that coffee grounds are relatively easy to deal with (once they pack up your drain). You can either remove and clean the p-trap or try the following.

Step 1: If you have one sink, then skip to the next step. But if you have two sinks, seal the unaffected sink first.

Step 2: Place the plunger’s cup over the affected sink’s drain hole. Add water to the sink until the cup is covered completely.

Step 3: Plunge up and down. Be careful to go straight up and down and not at an angle. Pump for about a minute. The water should drain smoothly afterwards.

How Incorrect Installation Clogs Your Kitchen Sink

Most clogged kitchen sinks can trace their problems back to food disposal. This is particularly true if your sink worked well for a long time and only started clogging in the last few weeks or months. However, when things go wrong right after you move into a new house or you have a new plumbing system installed under your sink or kitchen, then faulty installation is mostly the cause.

The fastest way to remedy the situation is to get a plumber with good references. He will diagnose where the previous plumber made a mistake and correct the problem. There is no real way around it. Most food-related blocks can be solved by the homeowner. But if faulty installation keeps clogging your kitchen sink, the plumbing needs to be redone by a trusted professional.

A Quick Summary On Reasons For A Clogged Kitchen Sink

• The main reasons are faulty plumbing and food disposal habits.
• Most of these problems can be prevented by never disposing of food or grease down your kitchen drain.
• A drain with a food disposal system can also get clogged by certain foods.
• While most food-related clogs can be solved at home, a faulty plumbing system might need the attention of a professional.