ArcaMax

Last week, I shared my broken boiler saga. Even though I did the repair myself, I was still out of pocket almost $540. Had I been forced to hire a professional to do the repair, the total bill would have approached $1,000. I’m sure he would have marked up the $387 fan at least 30%.

This week, a $5 stainless-steel sink strainer reminded me twice how it’s guarding the 1.5-inch sink drain pipe buried in the wall behind my kitchen sink base cabinet. The first time it stopped globs of coagulated cheese from entering the pipe. The second time, it filled up with hundreds of pieces of rice someone didn’t put in the garbage can.

I don’t live alone in my house. Even though I’ve shared the gospel about how to prevent clogged drains, other inhabitants seem determined to worship a false god who claims food scraps and grease cause no harm to drain pipes.

There are hundreds of professional plumbers and drain-cleaning companies who survive and thrive on this home maintenance heresy! I can tell you from first-hand experience that grease and food scraps will clog a drain. It’s a somewhat slow process that eventually reduces the inner diameter of the drain pipe to nothing.

You can view quite a few videos on YouTube that show you what the inside of drain pipes looks like. Food deposits, grease, and any other things you send down your drain pipes can accumulate on the inner walls of the pipes.

This same thing happens on a larger scale in city sewer pipes. Look for videos that show the buildup of deposits in these large-diameter pipes. I believe once you watch these videos, you’ll become a disciple of the Tim Carter drain pipe religion.

Since I’m the one who would be conscripted to clean out a clogged drain, I’ve told all in my family I’ll wash the dishes. I take care of it all the time. Here’s what I do to ensure I never have a clogged kitchen sink drain.

First, I have a stainless-steel screen strainer installed above each of the basket strainers in my dual-basin sink. The normal basket strainer has larger holes that allow food scraps to enter the drain pipe. The strainers I have capture any food particles bigger than a tiny undersized peppercorn.

The strainers also do double duty with grease. I’m not quite sure how it works, but the screening gets clogged with grease. They’re a must-have in every sink as far as I’m concerned.

I take the time to scrape out all food from plates, bowls, pots, and pans. It all goes in the garbage. My family knows to keep wet paper towels in a bowl on the kitchen counter. I set them out to dry and use them to wipe grease from all dinnerware, pots, and pans. The grease-saturated paper towels are then discarded in the trash.

Baked-on food in pans and pots can be an issue. I fill them with just enough water and soap to cover the hard, dry food scraps. These are put on the counter. I want the hardened food to re-hydrate. After a few hours, I use a small plastic scraper to remove the food from the pot or pan. I dump this outside on the lawn where it magically disappears in a few days.

Last week, I had a reader reach out to me about tiny fruit flies that buzz up out of his sink drain when he turns on the water in his sink. He wanted to know if he could put a cap on the vent pipe that projects up out of his roof to stop the infestation.

I shared with him that the flies are not entering from the roof. A cap would stop the much-needed air from entering the plumbing system each time water flows down the drain and waste pipes.

The flies are feasting on the biofilm that coats the inside of the drain pipes extending from the bottom of the sink to the top of the p-trap. This coating is rich in food and moisture which fuels the growth of the flies.

Fortunately, it’s easy in most cases to take apart these pipes and clean them out using the correct-sized bottle brush. The black goo biofilm can be cleaned off with minimal effort.

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©2026 Tim Carter. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.