The short answer
In a Northern Virginia house, the only things that belong in a toilet are toilet paper and what it’s there for. The kitchen drain gets water, soap and small scraps. Wipes, grease, coffee grounds, paper towels and paint are what close up drains, and every one of them goes in the trash or a can instead. Here’s the whole list we’d give a neighbor, and what to do with each thing.
Never in the toilet
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Swipe to see all columns →
| Don’t flush it | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Wipes, even the ones labeled flushable | They leave the bowl, then snag and build up down the line. | Trash |
| Paper towels and tissues | They’re made to hold together when wet. Toilet paper is made to fall apart. | Trash |
| Cotton swabs, cotton balls, floss | Floss nets everything else into one knot. | Trash |
| Tampons, pads, diapers | They swell up with water and stop where the pipe turns. | Trash |
| Cat litter, even flushable kinds | Litter is built to clump when it’s wet. | Trash |
| Most medicine | The FDA keeps a short list of drugs to flush. Everything else goes to a take-back site. | Take-back box |
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Never in the kitchen sink
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Swipe to see all columns →
| Don’t pour it | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Grease, bacon fat, pan drippings | It goes down as a liquid and hardens on the pipe wall. | Cooled, in a can, in the trash |
| Coffee grounds | They don’t dissolve. They settle in the trap and stack up. | Trash or compost |
| Pasta and rice | They keep swelling with water after they’re down there. | Trash |
| Potato peels, celery, corn husks | Starch and strings wrap the disposal. When a disposal is worth fixing. | Trash |
| Eggshells | The bits lodge in the grease that’s already there. | Trash or compost |
| Flour and batter | Flour and water make paste. That’s the whole recipe. | Trash |
The kitchen gets its worst week at the holidays, so we wrote a list just for holiday clogs. Hosting this year? Here is the week-before list for the whole house.
Never in any drain
Paint, solvent and motor oil. Your county’s household hazardous waste drop-off takes them. On a septic system these are worse, because they kill the bacteria the tank depends on.
Hair, as much as you can help it. A cheap strainer in the shower catches it. That’s most of the slow tubs we see.
Boiling water in a toilet. It can crack the bowl and soften PVC. Hot tap water is plenty.
The fixes that make it worse
Don’t pour chemical drain cleaner on a full clog. It often burns a small hole without clearing the line, and then it’s sitting in the trap with nowhere to go. It can be hard on older pipes, too. If you’ve already used some, don’t plunge, because it splashes. Tell your plumber before anybody opens the pipe.
Don’t run the water harder to push it through. If it’s not draining, more water only means more on the floor. Same for a toilet: if the bowl’s rising, stop flushing and close the valve behind it. If it keeps running after that, here is the fix.
Don’t feed the disposal to clear a clog. It grinds what’s in it. It doesn’t clear what’s past it.
When it’s not the fixture at all
One slow sink is usually that sink. Two or three drains backing up together, or a tub gurgling when the toilet flushes, points at the main line, and that’s a different job. How to tell a fixture clog from a main line. A rotten egg smell is its own problem, and here is where it comes from. A plumber can run a camera down the line to see what’s there instead of guessing, and you can read what drain cleaning costs around here before you call anyone.
Questions people ask
Can you really flush flushable wipes?
They’ll leave the bowl. They don’t break down the way toilet paper does, so they snag and build up farther along the line. Put them in the trash.
Is it OK to pour grease down the drain with hot water?
No. Hot water only carries it farther before it cools and sticks to the pipe. Let it cool in a can and throw the can away.
Are chemical drain cleaners bad for pipes?
They can be hard on older pipes, and they often burn a small hole in a clog without clearing it. Then the chemical is sitting in the trap when someone opens it. If you used one, tell the plumber before they start.
What can go down a garbage disposal?
Small soft scraps with cold water running. Skip grease, potato peels, celery, corn husks, pasta, rice and coffee grounds.
Book it
Sink backing up already? Drain clearing is $99, up to the P-trap, the curved pipe under the sink. Deeper drain or main line work is a separate service, and we’ll give you that price before we start. Book it from goswiftpro.com/cookiesoffer and free MOLTN cookies come with the visit. Or call (703) 997-9757. SwiftPro is rated 5.0 stars across 1,138 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook, Virginia Class A license 2705192276.
