AUSTIN, Texas — Thanksgiving is filled with family, friends and a lot of food. While it is a fun time to gather with loved ones, if a homeowner is not careful, it could cause major problems for the pipes.
While Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, Brown Friday is the busiest day of the year for plumbers.
Brad Casebier, the owner of Radiant Plumbing and Air Conditioning, said oftentimes households overload pipes past the capacity they can handle.
Three problems plumbers typically see when responding to post-Thanksgiving house calls included too many people using the bathroom, really old plumbing and grease down the drain.
"It never ceases to amaze us what people pour down their drains,' Casebier said.
However, to protect your pipes and avoid calling the plumber, instead of shopping for gifts, Casebier suggested doing preventative maintenance, especially in old homes.
"You can solve that problem by having your plumbing lines jetted out and cleaned," he explained.
This eliminates pipes of any build-up before they get a significant amount of usage.
He also suggested replacing old toilets. This includes toilets specifically from the 1990s. Casebier said that the period of time involved poor and inefficient toilet designs that could cause problems today.
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When cooking, Casebier said a lot of things can go down the garbage disposal but do not put grease or oil down the drains.
"A lot of oily and greasy stuff that goes down the drain, it may be liquid now, but as it cools it hardens and glues inside the pipe," he added.
Additionally, plumbers recommend not putting bones, pasta, celery, or potato peels down the sink. Some also suggest avoiding eggshells.
If the garbage disposal stops working, Casebier said do not call them quite yet. At the bottom of the disposal is a slot for an allen wrench. Place the allen wrench in the slot, and manually crank the motor to clear any jam.
If it continues to jam, he said it may be time for a new disposal.
Finally, while an easy solution may be buying anti-clog chemicals, Casebier said those do not always work, and actually cause more complications when a plumber comes out to fix the problem later.
So enjoy Thanksgiving, but remember these tips in order to help save hundreds of dollars that can go towards a festive holiday season.
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