Winter Is Tough on Your Drains
When the temperature drops, your plumbing works harder. Grease and oil solidify faster in cold pipes. Holiday cooking means more food going down the disposal. More time indoors means more showers, more laundry, more everything going through your drains. It's no coincidence that drain problems spike in the winter months.
Here in East Texas, our winter weather is unpredictable — we might get weeks of mild weather and then a sudden hard freeze. The best approach is to prepare your drains before the cold hits and maintain good habits throughout the season. Here's how.
1. Never Pour Grease Down the Drain
This is the #1 cause of winter drain clogs, and it's completely preventable. When hot grease goes down the drain, it's liquid — but by the time it reaches your pipes, which are colder, it solidifies. It coats the inside of your pipes, gradually building up until water can't get through.
What to do instead: Pour used grease into an empty jar or can, let it solidify, and throw it in the trash. Wipe greasy pans with a paper towel before washing them. It's a small habit that saves you from major clogs.
2. Use Drain Screens
Drain screens are cheap, simple, and incredibly effective. They catch hair, food particles, and soap scum before they enter your pipes. Put one in every shower, tub, and kitchen sink. Empty them into the trash regularly.
Hair is the leading cause of bathroom drain clogs, and a $5 screen prevents nearly all of it. It's one of the best investments you can make in your plumbing.
3. Run Hot Water After Each Use
After you use the kitchen sink — especially after washing dishes — run hot water for 30 seconds. This helps flush any grease or soap residue through the pipes before it has a chance to solidify. In winter, when pipes are colder, this matters even more.
4. Be Careful What Goes in the Garbage Disposal
Winter means holiday cooking, and holiday cooking means more food scraps. But your disposal isn't a trash can. Avoid putting these down the drain:
- Grease and oil (see above)
- Starchy foods like pasta, rice, and potato peels — they expand and form a paste
- Coffee grounds — they clump and stick to pipe walls
- Eggshells — the membrane wraps around the blades
- Fibrous vegetables like celery and onion skins
5. Schedule a Professional Drain Cleaning Before Winter
If your drains are already slow — if water takes a few seconds to go down, or you hear gurgling — you have a partial clog that will only get worse under winter's extra load. A professional drain cleaning clears the buildup before it becomes a full blockage.
Think of it like an oil change for your car: it's preventive maintenance that costs a fraction of what a major repair would. A drain cleaning in the fall means you're not calling an emergency plumber on Christmas Eve.
6. Know the Signs of a Developing Clog
Catch clogs early and you can often clear them yourself:
- Slow drainage — water takes longer than usual to go down
- Gurgling sounds — air trapped behind a partial clog
- Bad odors — food or debris decomposing in the pipe
- Multiple slow drains — if more than one drain is slow, the clog is likely in the main line
7. Avoid Chemical Drain Cleaners
When a drain is slow, the temptation is to dump in a bottle of chemical drain cleaner. Resist it. Those chemicals are harsh — they can damage your pipes, especially older ones, and they rarely clear anything more than a minor clog. If they don't work, you've just filled your pipes with dangerous chemicals that a plumber now has to deal with.
Instead, try a plunger or a drain snake for simple clogs. For anything beyond that, call a professional.
We're Here All Winter
At All American Plumbing, we handle drain cleaning and clog removal throughout the Brownsboro and East Texas area all winter long. But we'd rather help you prevent the problem than fix the emergency. If your drains are slow or you want a pre-winter cleaning, give us a call — we'll get everything flowing smoothly before the cold sets in.
