Back to all articles
If your kitchen sink drains slower every month and the gully outside the scullery smells in summer, you have a grease problem. Fats, oils and grease (FOG in the trade) are the single biggest cause of kitchen-line blockages we see in Sandton, Midrand and the rest of Northern Joburg.
How a grease blockage actually forms
You pour a pan of bacon fat into the sink with hot water. The fat is liquid, so it disappears. Three metres down the line, the pipe is at ground temperature — about 14 °C in winter. The fat hits that cold pipe wall and solidifies. Add a teaspoon of coffee grounds and a bit of rice and you've started a layer that grows every single day.
What dissolves it and what doesn't
- Boiling water: melts the top film, then it re-sets 2m further along. Doesn't fix it.
- Bleach and caustic soda: attack the organic stuff trapped in the fat, but leave most of the grease in place. Also dangerous to the plumber who arrives later.
- Bio-enzyme treatments: work brilliantly as a maintenance dose every fortnight — useless on a fully blocked line.
- High-pressure water jetting: the only thing that scours the inside of the pipe back to bare wall. This is the right tool.
Our standard kitchen-line treatment
- Drain machine to punch through any solid plug.
- Hot-water jetter (40 °C feed) at 3,500 psi to emulsify the grease layer.
- CCTV camera to confirm the pipe is back to full bore.
- Bio-enzyme starter dose and a maintenance schedule for the household.
Stop it coming back
- Pour cooking fat into an empty tin, let it set, throw it in the bin.
- Wipe oily pans with paper towel before washing.
- Fit a basket strainer in the sink for solids.
- Run very hot water for 30 seconds after washing up.
- Dose with a bio-enzyme treatment every 2 weeks — costs less than R200 a month.
Slow kitchen drain in Sandton or Midrand? Book a jet clean on 082 886 9119.