Things that never belong in a drain

The kitchen offenders

Fat, oil and grease top the list. They go down liquid and set solid in the pipe. Let fat cool in an old can, then bin it the way Toronto’s current sorting rules say. Coffee grounds, eggshells, rice and pasta swell or settle into a paste that binds with grease.

• Clear plates into the green bin first, then rinse, and keep a strainer in the sink.

The bathroom offenders

So-called flushable wipes keep their shape for days in a pipe, while toilet paper falls apart in minutes. Cotton swabs, dental floss, hair, and feminine products also snag in pipes and pumps. The toilet is for paper and waste, nothing more.

• A small bin beside the toilet solves most of this.

Chemicals and building waste

Paint, solvents, grout and plaster rinse water should not go down any drain. Grout and plaster set in traps. Solvents and paints are household hazardous waste; take them to a city drop-off depot.

• Caustic drain cleaners can damage older pipes and make a plumber’s job hazardous; mechanical clearing is safer.

Garbage disposals are not grinders for everything

A disposal makes small food scraps smaller, but it does not make them disappear. Fibrous peels, corn husks, onion skins and potato peels wrap around the impeller or form a mat in the trap. Bones and fruit pits jam the flywheel. Run cold water, feed scraps gradually, and keep heavy scraps for the green bin.

• If your sink drains slowly after using the disposal, the trap or line below may already be partly blocked.

You may be pouring the wrong thing if

• Slow kitchen sink after a big meal
• Toilet clogging with “flushable” wipes
• Grout residue in the laundry tub
• Gurgling after pouring oil away
• White crust in old traps