Benjamin Franklin proposed making the turkey the American national symbol rather than the bald eagle. Had Ben prevailed, the turkey would be on the currency and Americans would be eating eagles for Thanksgiving.
More damage happens to American plumbing on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year
Thanksgiving Day is the busiest day of the year for America’s residential plumbing systems. And the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day for American plumbers. “Black Friday”, as the day is known to most of us, is “Brown Friday” for plumbers.
All that food down the garbage disposal, all that stuff put in the toilet, and all that water used by all those people can cause serious clogs and other plumbing problems in the home. Many of these issues can develop to the point where they will become a problem and will require the services of a qualified plumber.
How to Avoid the Plumber on His Busiest Day – Black Friday
Your Home’s Plumbing Takes A Real Beating on Thanksgiving Day
The plumbing in a residential home is the biggest victim of the Thanksgiving holiday (after the turkey, of course). A huge amount of pressure is put on your system by all those guests and all that food. If you don’t take precautions, you will find yourself needing a plumber on his busiest day. Calls to plumbers typically go up 50% on Black Friday, and by 25% overall during the four day Thanksgiving weekend.
Residential plumbing systems are built to handle the needs of a single family – plus a few guests. But on Thanksgiving, your plumbing system is going at full capacity – all those dinner guests and house-guests can put more pressure on your plumbing system than it can handle, and you end up with clogs, slow drains or back-ups. You don’t need those things on Thanksgiving. It’s up to you – don’t pack your pipes with potato peels, don’t stuff your sewer with stuffing.
Avoid Toilet Clogs – Flush Nothing But Toilet Paper
Toilets clog on Thanksgiving. All those people using them over and over. And people are flushing things down the toilet that should never be flushed. The biggest cause of toilet clogs is the flushing of unsuitable material down the toilet. Only human waste and toilet paper should go into the toilet.
Everything else should go into a waste basket. Make sure you have a decent-sized waste basket in your bathroom. And before your guests arrive, post a notice that only toilet paper should go into the toilet, and tell people not to flush paper towels, sanitary napkins, cotton balls, or flushable wipes (they are NOT flushable). Keep an eye on kids, and see that they don’t try and throw things like toy packaging into the toilet.
Don’t Clog Up Your Garbage Disposal With the Wrong Stuff
Another plumbing hotspot on Thanksgiving is your garbage disposal unit. Designed for the needs of a single family, this poor appliance now suddenly has to do much more work than it usually does. So here are some tips: Don’t wait until the garbage disposal is full before running it. And always operate the unit with cold – not hot – water running the whole time and for a half-minute after the grinding stops.
Don’t throw fibrous material like vegetable peels into the disposal. And no rice or coffee grounds – these actually expand when wet. And never put kitchen oils and grease down there either: let them harden, then place them in the trash. And if you have a dishwasher, always run the garbage disposal before you run the dishwasher, because dishwashers often drain into and through the garbage disposal.
Protect Drains – Showers, Tubs, and Sinks
The principal cause of clogs in bathroom drains is human hair. Make sure all drains from tubs, showers and sinks are covered with some kind of sink guard to catch human hair (and anything else) that causes clogs. And if you have houseguests, ask your guests to wait fifteen minutes after each shower before the next person takes one. This will allow water to drain away, especially if the drains are a little slow.
You can avoid most Thanksgiving plumbing repairs with some preparation. If you are currently experiencing any plumbing problems at home right now, don’t wait – get them fixed before Thanksgiving – any existing plumbing problem you have is only going to get worse with a house full of guests.
And if you follow the above tips, you can use Black Friday for shopping or family fun rather than waiting around all day for the plumber to show up. See the infographic below for more tips.
We’ll leave you with two plumbing jokes:
There are two reasons why you should never let your dog drink from the toilet: Number 1, and Number 2.
What did the dog say when his owner brought home a Christmas tree? Yeah – indoor plumbing!
Happy Thanksgiving 2015!
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