Martha said on her show today that before draining her pasta she runs cold water down the drain because the hot water would harm the plumbing connections. True?

I thought Martha was doing somthing else today but yes it's true.The thermo-expantion can crack CI pipes and even loosen pvc joints.

Boiling water can also warp slip joint gaskets to the point that leaks will develope.

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This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

Okay, seems to me that if this were true that you would want to run hot water to acclimate the piping instead of cold. By running cold you will shock the material which to me would me more likely to fail. On the ohter hand isn't all of this stuff supposed to stand up temperatures well beyond the boiling point. Sounds like a plumbers urban legend.

The boiling water also deforms the rubber splash guard for the disposal(if a disposal is installed).

pzqk7j, Boiling water is very bad not only for what it does to pipes but it kills off alot of the bacteria that eats the sludge in the pipes and septic systems.As alway's....martha's right.

Code here says not hotter than 170*F or dilution or tempering is needed.

I thinking Martha was just THINKING about all the hot water she is in.

Yup, my code states 150.

It is like the "too much pitch will let the water out run the solids", and "if the drain doesn't work, it must be a blocked vent" theories. I have never seen it happen in 50+ years and doubt that it can happen. I have seen a 4" steam line that shattered its cast iron elbow because the sudden influx of steam every morning drove the elbow against the concrete wall, but that is nothing like what they are describing.

I guess Martha is a better homemaker than she is a plumber. Why run cold water when that would just make the temperature differential that much greater when the hot water hit the pipes?

The makers of synthetic stone sinks (Corian, for example) recommend running water in the sinks when emptying hot water from the stove (pasta, maybe) into the sink, to prevent cracking.

I will repeat what I said earlier. It does not make sense to run cold water and than hot because the physical stress caused by the temperature differential would be too great on the plumbing overall. How about running hot water down the drain while pouring down boiling water?

The cold water mixes with the hot making warm.

Perhaps Martha meant to advise running cold water while pouring the boiling water down the drain. Be that as it may, I have been pouring boiling water directly down the drain without tempering it with cold water since I was a boy. My dear mother instructed me in the art of cooking because I loved to cook and eat, and I have been cooking my whole life. Like hj, I believe this is an urban myth. I have never experienced damage to my plumbing from the practice of pouring boiling water into the sink drain.

Martha's advice, in my view, is just a large waste of clean water. Perhaps Martha has a financial investment in a private water distribution company.:>

And I love to eat and cook also!

If my memory serves me correctly, Martha and Emeril said that because if you run cold while pouring hot pasta water in the sink, you don't get burned nor do your glasses fog up. ~OvO~

Right, now we can get Emeril involved in this discussion. He knows less about plumbing than Martha.

I have never come across this problem in a residential home. I have come across this in commercial situations usually involving boilers or kitchen areas, and plastic pipes. Many boilers discharge into an apparatus designed to mix cold water with it before it dumps extremely hot water into the drainage system. GOOD LUCK