# Can homemade soap block the drain?



## biarine (Jul 29, 2017)

I notice that our drain was block so often in our sink in the kitchen area it started since I use my homemade dish soap. Anyone has the same problem?


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## Dahila (Jul 29, 2017)

I do not have it, but honestly I do not use homemade dish soap,  We mostly use dishwasher and the rest i use down or dawn  I am ashamed to do it :evil:
usually when my sink seems to be blocked it is the fat from dishes or pans
I let hot water run for few minutes and it unblocks itself
Maybe someone can give you a better answer Biarine


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## biarine (Jul 29, 2017)

Dahila said:


> I do not have it, but honestly I do not use homemade dish soap,  We mostly use dishwasher and the rest i use down or dawn  I am ashamed to do it :evil:
> usually when my sink seems to be blocked it is the fat from dishes or pans
> I let hot water run for few minutes and it unblocks itself
> Maybe someone can give you a better answer Biarine




Thank you Dahila in uk mostly people use hand to wash dishes. I like the concept of homemade using koh it clean very well, comparable to detergent.


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## kchaystack (Jul 29, 2017)

Just like bar soap, liquid soap can create soap scum if you have hard water and this can clog pipes. 

So if you have hard water and are not using sodium citrate or EDTA or some other chelator, then yes it can clog your drain.


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## biarine (Jul 29, 2017)

kchaystack said:


> Just like bar soap, liquid soap can create soap scum if you have hard water and this can clog pipes.
> 
> So if you have hard water and are not using sodium citrate or EDTA or some other chelator, then yes it can clog your drain.




Our water is soft but my suspension due to oil and fat from my pan ( as I love bacon ) that goes into the drain when I wash them


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## Dahila (Jul 29, 2017)

biarine said:


> Our water is soft but my suspension due to oil and fat from my pan ( as I love bacon ) that goes into the drain when I wash them



yep I do the same


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## earlene (Jul 29, 2017)

Biarine, it seems more likely that the bacon fat is more likely the cause.  Also rice is really bad on drains.  We used to have a restaurant and it seemed like rice was the worst of all the foods in combination with grease for clogging the drains.

At home, I never pour any grease down the drain.  I always have kept a glass jar (pickle jar or olive jar or whatever happens to be handy) to pour such things into before washing those pans.  I even wipe it out with a paper towel if it's not fluid enough to pour & toss the paper towel in the garbage bin.  I learned this from my mom, who did the same thing when I was growing up.  Well she didn't use a paper towel; she used a newspaper, but newspapers were abundant in our household and paper towels didn't even exist back then, at least not in my childhood home.


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## Rusti (Jul 29, 2017)

biarine said:


> Our water is soft but my suspension due to oil and fat from my pan ( as I love bacon ) that goes into the drain when I wash them



I agree with Earlene - it's probably not your soap, it's the grease you're pouring down the drain. Dispose of your grease into the garbage can instead of pouring it into the drain. Any of the methods Earlene has mentioned will work fine.


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## biarine (Jul 30, 2017)

earlene said:


> *Biarine*, it seems more likely that the bacon fat is more likely the cause.  Also rice is really bad on drains.  We used to have a restaurant and it seemed like rice was the worst of all the foods in combination with grease for clogging the drains.
> 
> At home, I never pour any grease down the drain.  I always have kept a glass jar (pickle jar or olive jar or whatever happens to be handy) to pour such things into before washing those pans.  I even wipe it out with a paper towel if it's not fluid enough to pour & toss the paper towel in the garbage bin.  I learned this from my mom, who did the same thing when I was growing up.  Well she didn't use a paper towel; she used a newspaper, but newspapers were abundant in our household and paper towels didn't even exist back then, at least not in my childhood home.




Thank you Earlene, I always have rice and thank you for the tips.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jul 30, 2017)

Keep the fat and ask a farmer nearby if they have a biogas plant. Great use for old fat that would otherwise be thrown away


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## Susie (Jul 30, 2017)

earlene said:


> *Biarine*, it seems more likely that the bacon fat is more likely the cause.  Also rice is really bad on drains.  We used to have a restaurant and it seemed like rice was the worst of all the foods in combination with grease for clogging the drains.
> 
> At home, I never pour any grease down the drain.  I always have kept a glass jar (pickle jar or olive jar or whatever happens to be handy) to pour such things into before washing those pans.  I even wipe it out with a paper towel if it's not fluid enough to pour & toss the paper towel in the garbage bin.  I learned this from my mom, who did the same thing when I was growing up.  Well she didn't use a paper towel; she used a newspaper, but newspapers were abundant in our household and paper towels didn't even exist back then, at least not in my childhood home.



^Me, too.


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## penelopejane (Jul 30, 2017)

^^ and me. We have a mesh plug that catches all the rice and other bits that I throw away as well.

And I use citric acid in my soap.


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## biarine (Jul 30, 2017)

penelopejane said:


> ^^ and me. We have a mesh plug that catches all the rice and other bits that I throw away as well.
> 
> And I use citric acid in my soap.




How much you use CA in your soap and how much sf? Thank you.


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## kchaystack (Jul 30, 2017)

biarine said:


> How much you use CA in your soap and how much sf? Thank you.



DeeAnna has a toutorial on how to add citric acid to your soap.  You have to calculate the extra caustic to add to offset the acid.  

As for superfat - liquid soap shou have a SF of 3% or less.  If this is for dish washing you could even do a slight negative superfat (like -1 or -2 %).


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## penelopejane (Jul 31, 2017)

biarine said:


> How much you use CA in your soap and how much sf? Thank you.



I use 10g of CA per kg of oils and 2% SF for my bar soap.


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## biarine (Jul 31, 2017)

penelopejane said:


> I use 10g of CA per kg of oils and 2% SF for my bar soap.




Thank you Penelopejane.


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