What's the Busiest Day of the Year for Plumbers?? The Day After Thanksgiving!!

Here are some common sense tips for spending more time with your family and less time with your plumber this Thanksgiving:

1. If you’re hosting the family feast, have your drains and plumbing checked out weeks in advance to avoid Thanksgiving Day catastrophes.

2. Never pour fats or cooking oils down drains. They solidify in pipes and drains and create clogs. Instead, use paper towels to wipe grease from pots and pans then throw the towels in the trash.

3. Avoid putting stringy, fibrous or starchy waste in the garbage disposal. You might not think these foods are dangerous to drains, but they are. Poultry skins, potato peels, celery and fruit etc…cannot be sufficiently broken down and can cause clogs.

4. Make sure the disposal is running when you put food into it and don’t wait until it’s full before turning it on. Run lots of water as you use the garbage disposal and keep the water running for a short time after you turn it off.

5. Using garbage and trash cans instead of kitchen sinks, drains and garbage disposals prolongs the life of your appliances and significantly reduces the chances of your Thanksgiving being adversely affected by clogged or backed-up plumbing.

6. Never flush any part of your Thanksgiving meal down the toilet. In addition, never flush cotton balls, swabs, hair or facial scrub pads down the toilet because they don’t dissolve and can cause clogs.

7. Advise overnight guests and family members to wait at least 10 minutes between showers so the additional hair and waste moving through your plumbing has an adequate amount of time to disperse and dispose of itself without clogging or backing up your pipes.