Plumbing Tips for Homeowners During Thanksgiving

dirty plateDid you know that Thanksgiving weekend is one of the common times of the year that plumbing problems occur? That’s because our plumbing systems undergo much more stress during Thanksgiving than they do during the rest of the year. Today we’re going to talk about why plumbing problems are so common during Thanksgiving and provide some tips to help homeowners avoid those problems!

Common plumbing problems on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the holiday that we get together with our friends and family to enjoy a delicious feast of all kinds of dishes. With so much food being made and disposed of in a single day, there is a heightened chance of your drains getting clogged or your garbage disposal getting jammed. And it sure doesn’t help that many of the traditional Thanksgiving foods can be problematic to your plumbing system!

In addition to food-related problems, your plumbing system goes through a lot of stress when you have guests over because of the amount of people who are using your sinks, toilets and showers. This can create new plumbing problems or aggravate problems that already exist in your home.

Thanksgiving plumbing tips for homeowners

  • Don’t pour grease or oil down your drain. Grease and oils are created while cooking a number of traditional Thanksgiving dishes. In order to avoid clogging up your drains, you’ll want to properly dispose of grease and oils before washing any dishes that contain them. You can do this by wiping your dishes with a paper towel or pouring grease and oils into jars.
  • Avoid draining other problematic foods. Some other common Thanksgiving scraps that are problematic to your drains and garbage disposal include hard and fibrous waste like bones, skins, egg shells, potato peels, celery and fruit. In order avoid plumbing problems, you’ll want to dispose of foods like these in the garbage or a composter instead of down your drain.
  • Use your garbage disposal correctly. In order to avoid a garbage disposal clog, make sure that you feed scraps slowly down your disposal instead of over-filling it with a lot of scraps at once. In addition, run your disposal for about 10 seconds before you start using it to make sure that it is clear before you feed it more waste.
  • Contact Tiger if you have a plumbing emergency. We would hate to see a plumbing disaster ruin your Thanksgiving weekend. If you encounter a problem with your plumbing system, we’re here to help with 24 hour emergency service!

If you have any questions about these plumbing tips, or if you’d like a plumbing system serviced or installed in your home, contact Tiger Services, your Glen Carbon and Metro East plumbing, heating and cooling contractor.

photo credit: Great Beyond

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