How to Prevent Drain Clogs on Thanksgiving
By now you may have heard that Thanksgiving is responsible for more sewer and drain clogs than any other day of the year. The day after Thanksgiving is far and away the busiest day of the year for Roto-Rooter, presumably because most homeowners want to avoid holiday plumber fees so they suffer through until Friday. But if you follow these Thanksgiving tips you can remain clog-free and spend your Black Friday shopping at the mall instead of waiting at home for the plumber.
Remember that just about every traditional Thanksgiving dish is a potential clog culprit. “Turkey drippings” is a nice way of saying turkey grease. When it’s hot and oily it seems as harmless as water but when you pour it down the sink, it congeals on the pipe walls like candle wax and can choke your drain. Potato peelings and rice seem harmless enough but when they go down the drain and get wet, they turn into a big starchy blob. The same can be said for that delicious stuffing. When you stuff it down the disposal, the bready mixture converts to starch and grease and clogs up the works.
Toss all of the food items listed above into the trash can and only use your disposal for whatever is left on the plates, pots and pans after you’ve scraped them off into the garbage can. If you do that, you will like skate through Thanksgiving weekend unscathed by drain problems. Simple as that? Well, almost!
There is another side of the coin and it’s called house guests. If you’ve noticed more than one slow drain in your house, it may be a sign that your sewer is partially clogged, probably from tree root intrusion. Once the holiday visitors arrive, they will be flushing toilets, taking showers and maybe even doing some extra laundry loads. All of these extra activities may be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and causes a big, nasty sewer backup just in time to ruin your holiday. If you think your sewer may be partially clogged, why not have the Roto-Rooter man snake out your sewer now and avoid a catastrophe on Thanksgiving?