Oil and its consequences in the drainage system

Many of our favorite foods are those that are not usually so healthy! From time to time it is not bad to fall into the temptation of delighting some wings or a fried chicken, right? Recently we saw how the invention of the "Air fryer" is here to stay; they presented us a healthier alternative to fry everything we like in a matter of minutes and without doing so much!

Undoubtedly the air fryer is very useful, but personally I think that some foods retain a better flavor if they are normally fried in oil; well but I don't want to generate controversy about what is better or not, I think it is something of taste and in relation to that everything is allowed because finally it is what we like!

The different categories of oils can be divided based on their creation process, that is, if they are refined or virgin. The former are subjected to a specific process and the latter are obtained from cold pressing. In some cases, mixtures of virgin and refined oils are used to add flavor, therefore we can also find mixed oils. There are many types of cooking oils that we can find in the market, to mention some of them we find, palm oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, argan oil, flax oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and vegetable oil, among others.

We find a great variety of oils and some are healthier than others of course, I think that these should be used moderately if we do not want to see our health compromised in the future. In addition to this, it is also important to take care of not only our body, but also our house pipe’s and the planet.

You may wonder what relationship does caring for our pipes and the environment have when we cook with oil? I will explain it to you. I must confess that many of the times that I cooked with oil, due to ignorance and bad habit, I ended up pouring the excess oil down the drain of my sink without thinking about all the consequences that this generates.

If you're constantly pouring used oil down the drain, you'll need a plumber visit soon! Since the oil adheres to the pipes and at low temperatures it solidifies creating a dangerous mass of concrete that generates an obstruction of the passage of water and the direct passage of air, which also hinders the exit of gases, producing bad odors and finally the water overflows inside your home or even worse in the exterior sewer, sounds scary right?

In our previous articles we have recommended the AAV or Air Admittance Valve when we have problems with the drainage system in our kitchen, but in this case not even the AAV will be able to save you from removing these masses of oil in the pipes.

What do I do with the used oil?

The recommendation is that you let the oil cool down, pour it into a container and store it in the freezer, make sure to take this oil to a specific recycling point for oils, if you dispose of it in the regular trash can you will be generating more contamination.

And the planet?

So far we have mentioned the damage caused by pouring oil into drainage systems, but it does not end there, in its final cycle the oil ends up in rivers and the ocean, putting ecosystems at high risk, since these fats remain floating in the water which generates a layer on the surface of the water that prevents the exchange of oxygen.

If you recycle oil correctly, it will end up turned into biofuel or even compost or varnishes through a refining process. It is in our hands then to generate a change, think twice before pouring the oil into your kitchen sink. Don't put your home, the planet, at risk.