How Carving Pumpkins Can Kill Your Garbage Disposal

Carving pumpkins is a Halloween tradition! From wacky faced jack-o-lanterns to silhouettes of your favorite animals, you can carve anything you’d like into this very large vegetable. In order to create this staple of a Halloween decoration, you’ll need to dig out the guts and pulp from within — but what do you do with all of it?

Why Pumpkin Pulp is Bad

You’d think something as slick as pumpkin pulp would slip right down the drain. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. This pulp might feel slippery and slimy to the touch, but it’s also stringy and can stick to virtually any surface. Its stringiness will allow it to easily get caught on surrounding surfaces, where it will eventually dry out and harden.

What Happens Down the Disposal

Let’s say you decide to go ahead and put your excess pumpkin pulp down the disposal. Some of the pulp will be shredded by the disposal blades. However, due to its stringy and sticky traits, the pulp will latch onto the blades and the walls of the drain pipe itself. This pulp will eventually harden and cause further blockages and drain clogs. Any pipe that contains dried pumpkin pulp will need a professional’s equipment (and touch) for removal.

What Do You Do With Pumpkin Pulp?

• Don’t flush pulp down the toilet either. You might be thinking to yourself, “Human waste goes down alright, why not pumpkin pulp?” Well, the same result will take place, except you will have a clog that develops further down the pipe.
• Do place the excess pulp in a compost bin. You can even wash and dry the seeds to save for planting next season. For those without a compost pile or a garden, you can simply dispose of the pulp in the garbage.

Creating your very own jack-o-lantern can be a fun way to spend the Halloween weekend — calling the plumber to unclog your drain is not. For those with garbage disposal and clogged drain problems, contact Len The Plumber. If you’re looking for a reliable plumber, check to see if you live in one of our many service areas!

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