Plumbers all over the Valley are gearing up for their busiest time of year: Thanksgiving. Between the cooking, the guests, and the parties, a typical household plumbing system gets some of it’s heaviest use during Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend.
Pre-dinner wash
Before the dinner starts, every family member and guest leaps into the shower in rapid succession, forcing tons of water into the plumbing system.
Alternative
Pace showers by waiting fifteen minutes between showers, or take very, very short showers. Ask some guests to shower in the morning and others in the afternoon.
Cooking up trouble
During the preparation of the great meal, avoid using the garbage disposal for grease, cartilage, bones, starches (potatoes, noodles, bread), or anything fibrous, such as vegetables, and anything hard or grainy, such as coffee grounds, egg shells, or potting soil.
Do this
Have a small plastic bag-lined trash can at the sink, where everything that isn’t water can be scraped and pitched. If you only do this one day a year, Thanksgiving is the day!
When you run the garbage disposal, make sure the cold water is on and flowing freely before during and after you use the disposal. That way, it will have plenty of water to help grind, and also to help flush bits from the garbage disposal down the drain.
The potty parade
The toilet is for two things: Bodily waste and toilet tissue. Virtually everything else should be thrown in the trash. Hand wipes, paper towels, ladies personal products, and birth control items. Flushable wipes aren’t flushable, nor are baby wipes, any cotton balls, pads, or tips. Small bits of trash shouldn’t ever be thrown in the toilet.
Small children can sometimes get out from under the watchful eye of parents, and a stranger’s toilet can be the object of curiosity.
Solutions
If you know parents will be bringing their small kids, make an extra effort to lock up and small bottles, lipsticks, curios, or even shower caps or bottle tops. Also, having a small wastebasket handy for guests to throw everything away is excellent. It’s even better if it has a lid on it when kids are around.
After the meal
After the meal, scrape leftovers into the little trash can you set up next to the sink. The benefit of this is twofold: first, it will save your plumbing. Second, if anyone happens to toss a piece of silverware accidentally, it’s easier to fish out of a small trash can than it is a large one.
Leftovers
The same principles apply to leftovers that do to the dinner: no grease, bones, fibrous food, etc. If you make it through Thanksgiving weekend, you have 361 more days you can use your plumbing without fear.
If something happens and you need a great and understanding plumber to fix a clog, broken garbage disposal, or leak, give me a call. If you’re having a problem now, call me before the holiday! It’s best to have everything working right before a crowd of people show up for Thanksgiving dinner.
If you need an honest, dependable plumber in the Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe or Chandler area, call Jimmy at 480-757-1273.
