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Don't let your holiday go down the drain

Nothing stops a disposer faster than Thanksgiving leftovers.

By JUDY STARK
Published November 18, 2006

Retail store clerks and mall Santa Clauses aren't the only people who will be extremely busy the day after Thanksgiving.

For many plumbers, it's the busiest day of the year.

Why?

Potato peelings. Congealed gravy. Turkey carcasses. Celery strings. Pumpkin pulp. All that stuff people shove into the disposer . . . and then they're surprised when it doesn't work and the sink clogs up.

"The day after Thanksgiving is typically the busiest day of the year for plumbers. It's definitely the busiest for Roto-Rooter," said national spokesman Paul Abrams. Roto-Rooter reports a 47 percent increase in calls in the four-day weekend. "It's a big, big deal," Abrams said.

At Billy the Sunshine Plumber in St. Petersburg, Don Denick, father of owner Don Jr., agreed. "It's a good 25 to 30 percent more business," he said. "It's a plumber's field day."

The problems are not just in the kitchen. Often people have guests for the weekend, which means more showers and more toilet flushes. If the shower drain was slow to start with, or the toilet wasn't doing that great a job anyway, the extra burden of guests can lead to disaster.

"The most common thing at Thanksgiving is potatoes, anything that needs peeling," said dispatcher Elizabeth Gutierrez at Grable Plumbing in Tampa. Her experience is that it's the day before when panicked calls come in. People who are trying to get a head start on the big meal peel their potatoes and the peels form a starchy, gelatinous block in the disposer.

"It amazes me the things people put down a disposer," Gutierrez said. A whole pork roast, for instance.

Sally Becker, the dispatcher at the Drain Team in Brandon, agreed. "We had a lady who tried to stuff the entire turkey carcass in the disposer," she remembered. "She was surprised. She thought that's what it was made for."

"The things we pull out of lines are just crazy," Becker said. A dozen roses. Oh, don't you wish you'd been there to witness that dramatic scene? Candles. Keys. Necklaces.

Some people develop sink troubles on Thanksgiving Day but won't call a plumber because they don't want to pay extra for a holiday call. Some pour drain cleaner down the disposer and wait until Friday. (The plumbers love that.)

Some calls around the holidays are generated by visiting grandchildren who flush items down the toilet that they shouldn't: toys, underwear, you name it.

Abrams, the Roto-Rooter spokesman, said Christmas comes a close second for emergency calls, but "it would be tough for it to surpass Thanksgiving. All the things in a traditional Thanksgiving feast are big no-nos for drains."

Judy Stark can be reached at (727)893-8446 or stark@sptimes.com

FAST FACTS

Keep drains clear

Plumbers offer these guidelines on keeping your drains operating.

- Don't pour fats, oils or grease down the drain.

- Don't stuff stringy, fibrous food down the disposer: celery, banana peels, pumpkin pulp.

- Run cold water for 15 seconds before you start to use the disposer, and keep it running once the disposer is clear.

- Make sure the disposer is running when you place food debris into it. Don't wait until it is packed full to turn it on.

- Scrape plates into a trash bag. Bones, big chunks of food, scoops of stuffing and corncobs aren't intended for a disposer. After scraping, any residual food on the plate is what the disposer is able to handle.

- Foods like rice and coffee grounds will expand when wet and clog the disposer. Use the trash bag.

- If you notice slow drains, use an over-the-counter drain opener before the holiday, or call a plumber.

Source: Roto-Rooter, bay area plumbers

[Last modified November 16, 2006, 11:11:41]