The holidays bring full tables, full guest rooms, and, for many homes, a plumbing system working harder than it has all year. Extra showers, extra loads of dishes, and extra trips to the bathroom all add up fast. Plumbers often call the day after Thanksgiving one of their busiest days of the year, but a little preparation can keep your home off that list.
Treat Your Garbage Disposal Gently
A garbage disposal is built for small food scraps, not the leftovers from a holiday feast. Feed it a little at a time, run cold water before, during, and after, and let it finish clearing before adding more. When in doubt, scrape plates into the trash instead.
What Never Belongs Down the Sink
Some of the most common holiday kitchen items are also the worst for your pipes:
- Grease, fat, and oil. They may pour easily while hot, but they cool and harden inside pipes, trapping everything else that follows. Let grease cool in a can or jar and throw it away.
- Potato peels. Their starch turns into a thick paste that can jam a disposal.
- Pasta and rice. Both keep absorbing water and swelling after they go down the drain.
- Coffee grounds and eggshells. They don’t break down; they settle and build up.
- Fibrous vegetables. Celery, onion skins, and similar scraps wrap around disposal blades.
- Bones. Even small ones can damage a disposal.
Prepare the Guest Bathroom
More people means more flushes, and guests don’t always know a home’s quirks. Keep a plunger in every bathroom so no one has to go searching for one, and place a small trash can within easy reach. Wipes, even those labeled “flushable,” along with paper towels and other products, are some of the most common causes of clogs.
Give Your Water Heater a Head Start
Back-to-back morning showers can drain a water heater quickly, leaving the last guest in line with a cold surprise. Spacing showers out by 10 to 15 minutes gives the tank time to recover. If your water heater is older, making strange noises, or struggling to keep up in everyday use, the weeks before the holidays are the time to have it checked, not the morning your in-laws arrive.
Know Where Your Shutoff Valve Is
Before the house fills up, find your main water shutoff valve and make sure it turns freely. If a pipe bursts or a toilet overflows, shutting off the water quickly can be the difference between a minor mess and major damage.
Help Is a Phone Call Away
Even with the best preparation, plumbing problems don’t keep holiday hours. Based in Sheffield and serving all of Northwest Alabama, Pro Plumbing & Gasfitting offers 24/7 emergency service, free estimates, and no “show up” fees. Whether you need a pre-holiday checkup or a fast fix in the middle of the festivities, call 938-646-5775.
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