How To Avoid Thanksgiving Plumbing Problems

When you think of the Friday after Thanksgiving, most people think of fun Black Friday bargains. However, each year, the Friday after Thanksgiving turns black and bleak for many due to not-so-fun plumbing emergencies. Nationwide, plumbers get as many as 50 percent more calls over the long weekend following Thanksgiving, compared with any other four-day period throughout the year.

Most of the additional calls are for clogged drains attached to garbage disposals or toilets. The good news is, many of these problems are preventable. Here are a few tips to help avoid turkey day plumbing problems:

1. Don’t pour fats or cooking oil down the drains.  Be sure to use paper towels to wipe excess grease and oils from pots and pans before washing them, then throw away the paper towels.

2. Run several ice cubes through your garbage disposal. Do this before the big feast to sharpen the blades.

3. Don’t stuff your disposal. Use a steady flow of smaller amounts while running the water to help drain it away.

4. Avoid putting poultry skin, rice, pasta, celery, potato peels, fruit, or eggshells in your garbage disposal. Most disposers cannot sufficiently grind these things.

5. Use cold water when grinding food waste. Hot water will cause grease to move further into the pipe, where it can solidify after cooling.

6. Be sure you run cold water for 15 seconds after the disposal work is finished to carry the waste out of the pipes.

7. Wait 10 minutes between showers so drains have time to work.

8. If small items drop in toilets, don’t flush them down. Retrieve them! Even small items can catch in pipes, then lead to bigger clogs with future flushes.

In many cases, plumbing problems were brewing long before the holidays. So if you have a slow drain, a toilet that wont’t flush completely, or other signs of plumbing issues right now, call us so we can help prevent worse plumbing problems that could put a damper on your holiday.

If you are looking for a plumber in The Woodlands, Tomball, Spring or surrounding areas call us at (281) 351-6661 or contact us online to get your plumbing problem taken care of quickly. We have 24 hour service 7 days a week and there are no special charges for after- hours calls.