(NEXSTAR/KDVR) — Plumbers across the nation are gearing up for “Brown Friday,” thanks in large part to your bad plumbing habits.
“Brown Friday,” which refers to the day after Thanksgiving, is said to be the busiest day of the year for the plumbing industry, thanks in no small part to folks misusing their garbage disposals, their drains and even their toilets.
“Thanksgiving is a perfect storm for plumbing emergencies,” Paul Abrams, a spokesperson for Roto-Rooter, said in a press release issued ahead of the holiday. “With homes full of guests, extra showers, and marathon kitchen sessions, pipes and disposals are pushed to their limits. Add in greasy turkey drippings and food scraps, and it’s no wonder drains clog and toilets back up.”
And despite being called “Brown Friday,” plumbers say issues with clogs and pipes tend to spike even before Thanksgiving officially starts.
“I would say it’s the full week,” Luis Sais, the drain supervisor at Plumbline Services in Colorado, told Nexstar’s KDVR last year.
Roto-Rooter, in its press release, said the company fields about 21% more calls over the long holiday weekend than they expect during other times of the year. Sais, speaking with KDVR, said his plumbing company gets roughly twice as many calls during Thanksgiving week than they do during non-holiday periods.
One of the main issues, both services say, is people pouring grease down their drain.
“We call it ‘Brown Friday’ just because of the amount of grease that goes down in every kitchen line. Baking grease, turkey grease,” said Sais. “All sorts of grease and you don’t want that going down your kitchen line because obviously you’ll get a plug and you’ll end up calling us.”
Roto-Rooter added that misuse of the garbage disposal, like shoving any food scraps into it, or leaving it running while dropping things into it, also causes frequent issues that require a plumbing professional.
Guests misusing the toilets may lead to a problem as well.
Roto-Rooter suggests discouraging guests from using wipes (even flushable ones) and placing plenty of garbage bins throughout the kitchen and bathroom to keep holiday visitors from flushing items that shouldn’t be flushed.
Sais also encourages awareness of good plumbing practices, lest you find yourself with unusable sinks and toilets on Turkey Day.
“Careful what you throw down the drain lines,” he said. “Keep it to the typical normal things you do and run more water. Be vigilant.”