Believe it or not your home may be one of many this year who will experience holiday plumbing disasters. The day following Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for most plumbers and drain cleaning specialists. The preparation of the holiday feast and the kitchen cleanup that comes later, creates many plumbing emergency calls that keep plumbers very busy unclogging kitchen sinks, disposals, toilets and drains. You may call it Black Friday as the media, store owners and Christmas shoppers do, but many plumbers call the day after Thanksgiving “Brown Friday” because of the dirty water and sewage they are hired to handle.
According to Black Mountain Plumbing Inc, professional plumbers serving San Diego since 1992, “Brown Friday” is often the busiest day of the year. The company’s incoming calls for service increase dramatically over an average Friday and right on through the holiday weekend.
“Garbage disposals take a beating this time of year as too many people try to run too much and the wrong things down their disposals” says Scott Ferrell, CEO of Black Mountain Plumbing Inc. “Grease from the turkey and gravy, rice, pasta, potato skins and carrot shavings – these are the types of things you should not be putting down your disposal.” In addition Ferrell says that “the extra traffic in the home from guests and family visiting, and using toilets, sinks and showers can put a added stress on your home plumbing system.”
Black Mountain Plumbing will be properly staffed on Thanksgiving and fully staffed on Friday to deal with additional service calls.
To avoid holiday plumbing disasters, follow these tips:
- Don’t pour fats or cooking oils down the drain. They will solidify in pipes and choke drains.
- Never put stringy, fibrous or starchy waste down the garbage disposal. Disposals can handle most scraps in small quantities, but it’s best to toss food waste into the trash can or compost pile.
- Make sure the disposal is running when you feed it food scraps.
- Don’t flush cotton balls or wet wipes down toilets. They don’t dissolve and will cause clogs. Place a waste basket in the bathroom so guests won’t flush these items.