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Plumbing Tip: Avoid a Call to the Plumber the Day After Thanksgiving |
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Written by Nevada Home Staff
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Monday, 03 November 2008 |
If the only ‘emergency’ call you have to make during the Thanksgiving holiday is asking your son-in-law to pick up more milk, be grateful. The day after Thanksgiving may be the biggest shopping day of the year, but it is also the busiest day of the year for plumbers.
In fact, InSinkErator, the world’s largest manufacturer of food waste disposers, receives 43 percent more calls on that day, due to disposer and plumbing mishaps. Many homeowners assume that their disposer can grind and flush just about anything. In reality, Thanksgiving dinner is full of clog culprits, from turkey bones and potato peels to stuffing and coffee grounds.
If you want to avoid the post-turkey plumbing call, follow these disposer do’s and don’ts:
• Don’t put grease or fat down the disposer, or any drain. It can build up in pipes and cause blockage. Instead, pour it into a glass or tin container, and then discard waste in the trash once it solidifies. Or, you can freeze the container and then scrape the waste into the trash once it freezes/hardens. That way, you can wash the container and re-use it.
• Do grind hard materials such as small bones, fruit pits, and ice. Contrary to what you might think, it’s good to grind these types of items in your disposer because it helps scrape the inside of your pipes and disposer, removing any buildup that might be there, such as grease buildup.
• Do have a container for dirty silverware so that guests do not toss their utensils in the sink. Glass, plastic, metal, or other non-food materials can seriously damage the disposer.
• Do run cold water down the drain for 30 seconds before and after disposer use to flush the food waste through the plumbing system and keep debris from settling in the pipes. Hot water can melt fatty/greasy waste and allow it to re-solidify, which may lead to jams and clogs.
• Don’t hurry through clean-up as this is one of the main reasons users overfill or jam their disposers—simply because they are not paying attention.
• Don’t use your disposer like a garbage can. Avoid letting items like tea bags, bread ties, and bottle caps fall into the sink as they can easily run down the drain and cause jams.
• Do grind lemons and other citrus fruits. This will give your disposer a fresh scent. |
