Kitchen drains block more often than any other drain in the house, and nearly always for the same reason: fat, oil and grease. It goes down the sink warm and liquid, then cools and sets inside the pipe, catching food scraps until the water stops flowing.
Signs your kitchen drain is blocking
- The sink empties slowly or not at all
- Gurgling from the plughole
- A bad smell from the sink or the gully outside
- Water backing up when the dishwasher or washing machine empties
- Grease or food waste in the outside gully
How we clear kitchen blockages
We clear the blockage at the sink trap and waste pipe, then follow it to the outside gully and drain. Where grease has built up along the pipe, we use high pressure jetting to scour it out, so the drain does not block again a week later. Hardened fat that jetting will not shift is cut out with Picote milling equipment.
Commercial kitchens
Restaurants, cafés, takeaways, pubs and food producers put far more fat down their drains than a home ever will. A blocked drain can mean closing the kitchen, and overflowing gullies attract rats and flies, which can cause problems at inspections. We clear blockages quickly and can set up regular jetting so it does not happen during service. Because we are pest controllers too, we can look at both the drains and any pest activity on one visit.
Stop running water into the sink and do not use chemical drain unblockers on a fully blocked drain. They rarely clear grease, and they leave caustic water sitting in the pipe for whoever clears it.
Keeping kitchen drains clear
- Let fat and oil cool, then bin it
- Wipe greasy pans with kitchen roll before washing them
- Use a sink strainer to catch food scraps
- Keep the outside gully clear of leaves and debris
