The fall season is a nice transition time from the hot summer weather and the biting cold of winter. It is also a time when many people completely change their eating and cooking habits. With the warm evenings of summer long gone, cooking outdoors on the grill is much less comfortable.
Instead, most homeowners trade in their ‘king of the grill’ apron for the more traditional cooking for the season like casseroles, soups, and dense breads. All of the preparation and clean-up for these foods can be very time-consuming. And, finding any way to cut corners and save a few minutes is always tempting, especially if your house is busy after dinner.
But, cutting corners with your plumbing system may save time in the short-term, it will cost a lot of time … and money, in the long-run. Make sure to follow these tips for using your kitchen and plumbing thoughtfully this fall:
- Use your garbage disposal sparingly. It might seem like a trashcan in your sink where you can put anything but, your garbage disposal is actually very fragile. Putting the innards of stringy foods like squash or, pouring grease or meat drippings will clog up the disposal and damage the blade. A new garbage disposal is expensive and going without your garbage disposal could be a real inconvenience.
- When you load your dishwasher, make sure that you rinse all of the food from the dishes before you put them in the machine. The filter in your dishwasher is small and only meant to grab tiny particles. If you put dishes in the dishwasher still with large amounts of food on them, the filter will quickly become clogged and the dirty water will not drain.
- Keep in mind that your dishwasher, kitchen sink, and garbage disposal all use the same pipe for getting rid of used water. If you overwhelm this pipe with food particles from the three areas, then none of them will work and you will have a complete kitchen failure. Use your plumbing appliances with care, and don’t rinse just anything down the drain.
The fall season is the first glimpse of the holidays and the food that is prepared this time of year is arguably some of the best all year. But, if you have a plumbing failure in your kitchen due to misuse, you could be stuck eating peanut butter sandwiches! Follow these tips for keeping your plumbing system working great all year around.