When you wash oily pans, hot grease goes down the drain. As it cools, it solidifies into a hard, sticky mass that traps food particles, eventually blocking the entire pipe.
Pour a cup of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar. Wait 15 minutes, then flush the drain with a full kettle of boiling water to melt the grease.
If boiling water and the baking-soda method fail, the grease has hardened deep in the waste pipe and DIY won't reach it. A professional plumber clears it with a motorised snake (auger) — and at FixMove your coordinator confirms an indicative price on WhatsApp before anyone is dispatched, so there's no surprise charge at the door. See typical ranges on our plumber cost guide.
Diagnose Before You Pour: Where Is the Grease Stuck?
Before reaching for chemicals, work out how far down the blockage sits — it decides whether this is a 5-minute DIY or a plumber callout. The clearing point in most Singapore homes is the P-trap (the U-bend under the sink) or, in many condos and newer BTOs, a slim plastic bottle trap. Grease almost always builds up here first because the water cools and slows at the bend.
Run the tap and watch: water that drains slowly but steadily means a partial grease coating near the trap — usually clearable yourself. Water that pools and barely moves, or gurgles and pushes air back up, means the clog has travelled past the trap into the horizontal waste pipe or the shared common stack serving your HDB block. Anything past your own trap is no longer a DIY job.
Try the Trap First (Cleaner Than Chemicals)
Place a pail under the U-bend, unscrew the two slip nuts by hand (or with a wrench wrapped in cloth), and pull the trap off. In a grease clog you will literally scoop out grey, candle-wax-like sludge. Wipe it clean, check the rubber washers are seated, and reattach finger-tight plus a quarter turn. This physically removes grease the baking-soda method only softens — and it costs nothing.
When DIY Stops and a Plumber Starts
Call a professional the moment you see any of these: water backing up into a second fixture (e.g. the floor trap or an adjacent sink), repeated clogs within weeks, foul smell that returns after cleaning the trap, or a blockage you simply cannot reach. These point to grease lining deep pipework or the common stack — which needs a motorised auger or, for stubborn HDB-stack fat, high-pressure water jetting. Never tip strong acidic drain openers into a pooled sink: trapped fumes and splash-back cause real chemical burns, and they can damage older PVC joints.
| Method |
Best for |
Indicative cost (SG) |
| Trap clean (DIY) | Soft grease at the U-bend | Free |
| Plumber callout + manual clear | Trap/waste-pipe choke you can't reach | from S$80 |
| Motorised snake (auger) | Hardened grease deep in the pipe | typically S$120–S$200 |
| High-pressure water jetting | Severe / recurring common-stack fat | from S$250, confirmed on site |
Prices are indicative only and depend on access, severity and whether a second visit is needed — your FixMove coordinator confirms before any work starts. See full ranges on our plumber cost guide.
Stop It Coming Back
- Never pour hot oil down the sink. Let used cooking oil cool, decant it into a sealed container and bin it — this is the single biggest fix.
- Wipe greasy woks and plates with kitchen towel before washing.
- Fit a fine sink strainer to catch rice, coffee grounds and food bits that bind to grease.
- Weekly flush with a full kettle of boiling water (and a squirt of dish soap) to keep the trap clear.
- In HDB flats, remember the waste pipe is shared — your neighbour's grease habits matter too, so persistent multi-unit chokes are a town-council / shared-stack issue, not just yours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will caustic drain cleaner finally clear a grease clog?
Rarely for hardened grease, and it carries real risk. Caustic and acidic openers struggle to dissolve cooled fat, and if water is already pooled they sit on top, splash, and release fumes. Mechanical removal — clearing the trap or augering the pipe — is safer and more reliable.
Why does my sink smell even after I clear it?
Grease lining the pipe walls upstream keeps decaying and smelling, or the trap has dried out and lost its water seal that blocks sewer gas. Refill the trap by running water; if the smell returns within days, residual grease is still coating the pipe and needs a deeper clear.
Is a kitchen choke covered by HDB or my town council?
Plumbing inside your unit (your trap and waste pipe) is the homeowner's responsibility. Blockages in the shared common stack affecting multiple units are typically handled by the town council or MCST. If several flats in your stack back up at once, report it rather than paying for a private clear.
How fast can FixMove clear a blocked kitchen sink?
Most single-sink grease chokes are cleared in one visit, often same-day or next-day depending on your area. Message us on WhatsApp with a short video of the draining sink and we'll advise whether it's a quick trap clear or needs an auger before we come.
Not a plumbing issue after all? Our handyman team handles strainer swaps, leaking trap nuts and under-sink fittings, while the plumbing hub covers chokes, leaks and water heaters across Singapore.