I’ll be honest, despite living with a plumber, there’s still plenty of things I do wrong when it comes to the pipes in my home. And while my husband’s more than happy to tell me why I need to stop clogging the bathtub drain with my hair, there are some things we never discuss.
When someone recently asked me whether it was safe to pour boiling water down the sink, I didn’t know what to say. So, I turned to my husband, just as I did when I wanted to know how often you should actually clean your shower head?
It turns out when it comes to pouring boiling water down your drains, most of the time it’s no problem at all. In fact, sometimes it can actually be helpful. But, there’s still some instances when you need to be more careful. Here’s my plumber husband’s top tips.
Is it safe to pour boiling water down your sink?
My plumber husband’s first response was to simply say: “Yes, it’s not a problem.” With most home pipes, exposure to boiling water won’t cause any issues. But, when I poked him for some extra advice, he added: “It’s not going to damage anything and it could potentially clear minor blockages.
“It’s actually probably something you want to start with if you think you’ve got a blockage, before you move onto using chemicals or anything more potent,” he explains.
But, there are still some instances, he warned, that can cause your pipes to suffer from long-term exposure to boiling water.
When is it not safe to pour boiling water down your sink?
While a lot of households have metal pipes, there are still a proportion that don’t (especially newer builds). “If you have plastic or PVC pipes, you should be more cautious. There’s potential for the hot water to melt or misshape your pipes with excessive exposure,” he reveals.
Though, he was quick to add that excessive exposure means doing it a heck of a lot, which he doesn’t believe anyone would be doing. Simply pouring away the remains of a kettle or draining your pasta water won’t have devastating effects to your pipes, but if you’re inclined to do it regularly than you may be causing an issue.
While you may want to grab your drain clog remover when you notice your sink backing up, it might still be worth pouring some boiling water down the sink as your first port of call. If that doesn’t budget it, you can try a solution like Drano’s Max Gel Drain Clog Remover and allow it to sit for 15-30 minutes before flushing with hot tap water.View Deal
Does running cold water at the same time help?
You might have heard of a ‘hack’ that some people suggest where you run cold water from your tap at the same time as pouring the boiling water down the sink to lower the temperature.
And while my husband plumber suggests it would cool it down, he adds: “It’d just be like running the hot water tap, only you do run a small risk of thermal shock. I’m not sure what would be the benefit. All you’re doing is cooling down the water, but it wouldn’t be causing an issue in the first place.”
He suggests that if you’re looking to protect your pipes, you shouldn’t be wary of boiling water. Instead, you should be focusing on not washing down any grease, fats or food waste into your sink as that could cause blockages that are a lot harder to solve.
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