Homemade cold process soap and plumbing

[sarasvati]

DeeAnna is very correct, I cannot use a high superfat exclusively because of my plumbing issues. I live on a hillside below street level without proper fall to my lines so nothing flushes through my drains well. My one exception is my salt bars which I superfat salt bars for myself at 15% and only use them when showering and my shower is next to my main line. My plumbing bills show that it helps. I also do not clean my soaping utensils and throw it down the drain. I clean in a 5 gallon bucket and dump the soapy water over the bank. Plus side of this is white flies are not under control in the bushes below me and the bamboo gets watered

Thank you very much for sharing your experience! Is a salt bar very different from other types of cold process soap? I would be interested in trying making it

I stopped wiping off my soaping pots, utensils etc with paper towels. As I was going through so many rolls as I make a lot of soap. So I purchased at Costco a pack of hand towels, I think its 25 towels and I wipe off everything including the stick blender with one towel per batch sometimes 2. I throw them into a bag in the laundry room and when I have a lot of them I throw them in the washer. At this point they are no longer oils they are soap as it takes a while before I wash them. They come out great to use again and again. I do throw a cup of washing soda in with them as I was worried about the plumbing and my mom had told me that this works to reduce scum. After the utensils and pots are wiped out with the towels there really is not any oil on them anymore so I just wash them with dawn in the regular sink. After almost 11 years I have had zero plumbing issues and my house is 25 years old so the plumbing isnt really new. Who knows, Ill deal with it if it happens.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience and tricks! It's good to hear that some people have never had plumbing issues caused by superfatted homemade soap. My house is over 80 years old and the plumbing under the ground is old and concrete so I probably need to be more careful. I will be interested to try your washing soda trick!

Before Chris and I lived together, we didn't have problems with homemade soap and plumbing - my house was 70-ish years old but the plumbing was completely redone in the 90's. Chris had his (house!) plumbing redone in the early 2000's. We moved into a 100 year old house last summer, much of the plumbing is still old cast iron. The basement bathroom was added about 5 years ago, so we've had no problems with that. Chris redid the main floor bathroom this spring - it was always clogging up. The upstairs bathroom still needs to be done, we have to clean it out about every 3 weeks. I superfat at 3%, with the exception of Chris' salt bars at 15%. My soap is used at all the sinks and in both showers, although the basement shower probably sees less usage because only one of the two kids uses it. Upstairs, three of us use handmade soap. I don't always use my soap, I keep 3-4 bars in rotation. Right now I'm using one of mine, two from the Home Sweet Home swap, and one from my friend at Brazos Valley Soaps... so I can't really say that I still have problems with a low SF because I'm not sure what other soapers use! I will say... if you have old plumbing, be prepared for maintenance! My husband and I love using handmade soap and agreed the maintenance is worth it.

Thank you for your advice! Yes, our house is over 80 years old with old plumbing. I worry about the worst case scenario all the time! That the maintenance is worth homemade soap is a good to way to look at it!

 

[redhead1226]

@[SIZE=4][URL='https://www.soapmakingforum.com/members/holly8991.26837/'][COLOR=#000000]Holly8991[/COLOR][/URL][/SIZE] -- Ah, thanks for setting me straight!

@redhead1226 -- Your mom is a smart cookie. A cup of washing soda definitely helps to get those soaping towels cleaner and reduce soap scum. I also use cheap terry cloth squares (aka "dairy towels" if you live in dairy country) to clean my soaping equipment. I've noticed sometimes the residues on the towels doesn't always fully turn into soap -- some of the fats stay as fats. The washing soda helps get rid of the oily residues.

Oh DeeAnna you are so right! Some does not turn to soap - some are just fat lol! But yes, the washing soda works.

 

[sarasvati]

When I do CP , I do the wipe it all out method then wash with lots of dawn. For HP, I just add water and viola soap! LOL

FYI, for your septic tank, don't put any of the stuff you buy on the shelves in it-my septic inspector said that only builds up sludge. Instead, once a month, put one packet of yeast in each toilet over night then flush. Just the regular bread yeast, so like a tablespoon each toilet if you don't have packets....it feeds the "good" stuff in the septic tank and no sludge! And def. dump the sour milks down, same idea. Do it in the toilet furthest from the septic tank so it gets in the pipes too. I had asked about soap etc, he told me not a huge deal and you can use lye (hahah) to clear it if needed -the amount of lye wouldn't hurt the septic tank.

Ahhhhh the fun stuff!

How interesting about feeding yeast to the septic tank! I had never heard of that trick! We don't have a septic tank but I will definitely tell my inlaws who have one about this trick

 

[Lin19687]

FYI, forgot to say that when I run the pots in the dishwasher it is a few days later ... aka turned to soap what little is left in then.

 

[clownking99]

Wipe the inside of bowls and stick blender? Nonsense. I just clean it all out at work the next day ^_^so far they haven’t had problems ^_^

 

[earlene]

I do sometimes leave my bowls for the next day, but never my stick blender. Lye can eat away at the rubber and I don't want another one losing the rubber seal. It happened to me once and I posted about it here, but the photos links probably don't work anymore (photobucket disabled free 3rd party links so all those are broken). So I never leave it covered in raw soap overnight anymore. I value my SB too much to let the lye eat away at the rubber seal.

ETA:
I attached a photo below from my files. The epoxy didn't last very long to hold the rubber at the bottom. You can see the bubbles that formed when I mixed the 2 parts together to make the epoxy active. I had to replace that SB, which I did with the exact same model because I liked it so much. I have never had trouble with the replacement.

 

[Lin19687]

Good to know !!
I usually wipe and rinse off the blender part after each use and put it back in the bowl on the soap counter. I don't want to lose it

 

[redhead1226]

Wipe the inside of bowls and stick blender? Nonsense. I just clean it all out at work the next day ^_^so far they haven’t had problems ^_^

And how long have you been doing that? I all depends on how much soa you make and how many times you do that. But it is far from nonsense. At work? You do it somewhere else?

 

[Lin19687]

Maybe she works in a big kitchen

You know I have not used Lye in the sink for like 40 years when I watched my Dad do it.
I wouldn't mind cleaning out my upstairs sink drain. Off to google how to do that... funny the things you never do when you have the tools

 

[NsMar42111]

I am certain putting yeast and spoiled dairy into your septic system won't hurt it, but it's not likely to do a lot to improve the function of your septic system either. The micro-organisms that digest fecal matter and urine aren't necessarily the same as those that we use to make bread, beer, and fermented dairy. I agree it's 100% a myth about the commercial additives -- it's a waste of money to use 'em.

The normal digestive microbes you supply every time you use the toilet are all that are needed to maintain a healthy septic tank. Avoid putting things down the drain such as paint, solvents, pesticides, fat/oil, and other liquids that are flammable, toxic, or don't mix with water, as well as non-digestible or slowly digestible solids such as tampons, baby wipes, condoms, etc."

The old place I lived at ....we put a quart of so of spoiled milk (oops) down the drain every week-no issues with the septic tank for 20 years! Plus there was a lot of baking happening so yeast ended up down the sink all the time. When it finally did have an issue, it wasn't the tank-it was because someone drove a truck over the field and crushed stuff when the ground was soft. When the inspector pulled the lid off, he thought we had just had it pumped because the scum layer was so thin-nope. And it wasn't leaking or anything. After that....I use yeast and milk LOL. Perhaps it works because there's usually more than just poo going down the drains into the tank? I'm thinking of the food scraps and stuff...

+1000 on never putting tampons, "flushable" wipes (they aren't!!), hair, etc down any drain. Heck, I watch how much toilet paper we put down the drains...I mean, that's wood! Septic systems are a whole different animal...

 

[Lin19687]

I NEVER understood why anyone would put ANYTHING OTHER then toilet paper in the toilet. Tampons ? Really why ?

Of course my sister was having her kids use those stupid butt wipes and flushing them on a septic - READ THE BACK DOPE. Even after I told her they should NOT be flushed even with Sewer system The sink is right there, wet some TP duh.

 

[Dennis]

I use our old Braun SB from the 90s that was given to us as a wedding gift. We have two, both with avocado green trim. Ugh! Regardless, it has been a great SB. After using to make soap I wipe it off then run it in a small bowl with water and Dawn, then run it in plain water, wipe it dry and put it away. The whole process might take 5 minutes. If it gives up the ghost I'll drag out the backup and carry on, hoping to replace the old with a new that is just as good but not avocado green.

 

[Dennis]

I NEVER understood why anyone would put ANYTHING OTHER then toilet paper in the toilet. Tampons ? Really why ?

Of course my sister was having her kids use those stupid butt wipes and flushing them on a septic - READ THE BACK DOPE. Even after I told her they should NOT be flushed even with Sewer system The sink is right there, wet some TP duh.

After 30+ years in the water reclamation industry I can answer your question. Humans are a strange bunch. I operated and later managed the smallest and largest water reclamation facilities. Oh, the stories I could tell! It is amazing what people and companies will flush. Everything from golf balls, action figures (kids will be kids) thousands of gallons of syrup (sorry, it was an accident!) to QUEEN SIZE SHEETS coming into the plant in ONE PIECE. How do they do that??? Some care, some don't. It's all a matter of out of sight, out of mind. Realizing that there are delicate and sensitive folks here, I will leave it at that and just say that I believe the planet will be fine in the long run, not so much the humans. In my humble opinion.

 

[Lin19687]

Wow, just wow a whole queen sheet. SMH

 

[DeeAnna]

In the same vein as Dennis, I used to work in an industrial wastewater treatment plant that was part of a large agricultural chemical production facility in Kansas City, Missouri. The treatment plant processed all the industrial wastewater as well as the sanitary wastewater from the restroom facilities on site. Some of the things that came down the pipe to get caught in our equipment included ball bearings, condoms (!), and even dead chickens. The scariest was the flammable solvents that would get dumped on occasion. People really do have an "outta sight, outta mind" mentality sometimes.

 

[LiLiSoapz]

How in the world did someone get a whole sheet down the toilet. That sounds very deliberate and suspicious.

The action figures make sense because they have super powers to power through.

 

[BattleGnome]

I wonder if the sheet was part of a commercial washer breaking, like from a hotel. Just a rush of suds down a large drain and the sheet was just the color or depth to not get noticed

 

[amd]

In college I did a two week internship at a waste treatment facility (it was supposed to the whole summer, but I could only stomach two weeks). It was ridiculous the amount of pills that come through the sewer system! Completely intact! I stopped buying pill vitamins and switched to chewables. About the only thing of value that I took away from that internship, lol. The other thing I saw a lot of (that I remember) was disposable diapers. How the heck do you even get them to flush??

 

[shunt2011]

Yep, my grandson flushed 5 matchbox cars down the toilet a few weeks ago. 950.00 later two are still in the drain pipe to the street. The plumber could see the tow truck and fire engine on the camera. He thought it was funny. Happened with a babysitter and him being quiet.

 

[LiLiSoapz]

I wonder if the sheet was part of a commercial washer breaking, like from a hotel. Just a rush of suds down a large drain and the sheet was just the color or depth to not get noticed

That makes so much more sense than what my mind conjured up.

In college I did a two week internship at a waste treatment facility (it was supposed to the whole summer, but I could only stomach two weeks). It was ridiculous the amount of pills that come through the sewer system! Completely intact! I stopped buying pill vitamins and switched to chewables. About the only thing of value that I took away from that internship, lol. The other thing I saw a lot of (that I remember) was disposable diapers. How the heck do you even get them to flush??

Thank you for the reminder, I need to make the switch as well. What a waste of money these pills are if our bodies cannot digest them.