Is It Bad for My Sink to Wash Coffee Grinds Down?


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When you're cleaning out your French press, mocha pot or percolator coffee maker, it's definitely tempting to throw the used coffee grounds down the drain. It's so much easier than having to open the garbage can and dump them in there, especially since those little grounds and crumbs can get everywhere. The thing is, it's not the best idea to put any food or other items down your kitchen drain if you want to keep a clear drain. Especially when you're putting down the volume, you would be after making a full brew of coffee.

The short answer is that it's probably best not to put coffee grounds down your sink drain since they're one of the main reasons for a clogged drain. Other major causes of a clogged drain are oil, fat, and other food particles. The thing is, coffee grounds don't break down in the water, and they'll usually end up clumping together, which means they'll build up and clog your drain.

If you've been putting your coffee grounds down your drain and you suspect that this may be what's clogging it up, then you may want to work on cleaning them out. Cleaning kitchen drains is pretty easy, and you can do it au naturel too if you like instead of using the harsh chemical cleaners out there. All you need is some baking soda, vinegar and boiling water. Put some water on to boil either in your stovetop kettle or electric kettle. You can even put water in a measuring cup in your microwave if you want.

Then, put a couple of tablespoons of baking soda down the drain. You'll have to really stuff it down there using a spoon end or a butter knife. Then, take about a cup or a half of a cup of vinegar and slowly pour it in the clogged drain over the baking soda. Of course, it will start bubbling and fizzing like a science project from elementary school, but this is what you want. So let it do it's thing for at least 20 minutes to an hour depending on how bad you think the clog is.

Then, you want to get your boiling water. Make sure it's freshly boiling and carefully pour it down the clogged drain over the natural cleaners. The hot water mixed with the baking soda and vinegar will hopefully loosen and then push through any debris that's clogging the drain. Repeat again if you find that the clog doesn't budge until you have a clear drain. That's the easy and natural way for cleaning kitchen drains. If you don't know what to do with your coffee grounds besides putting them in the garbage, you can also put them in your compost since they offer a lot of great acidity for plants.

You can even sprinkle a bit around tomato plants and other vegetables or flowers as well. You can also use them on indoor plants as well. Or, you can even make a nice body scrub out of the coffee grounds using some coconut oil to make a thick paste with the grounds. When you're rinsing off the coffee grounds just be sure to put a sink filter in your drain to catch the little bits of coffee beans, so they don't go down your bathroom drain.

You can even put some of the coffee grounds in a recycled jar and put the lid on with some holes punched through it and then place it at the back of your fridge. The coffee grounds will help to absorb all of the other nasty odours in your fridge leaving it fresh and clean smelling.



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