Don't Invite a Plumber over for Thanksgiving

Did you know that Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for plumbers? While you are enjoying a good meal with your family, watching Uncle Frank doze off before the pumpkin pie is served or watching the football game, plumbers are hard at work at homes all over the country. So unless you want to invite a local plumber over to your home on Thanksgiving, make sure you don't do the things that put plumbers to work.

The Disposal
The garbage disposal will be the origination of most Thanksgiving and Holiday plumbing problems. The problem is that during the hours and hours of cooking, either too much waste gets thrown down the disposal or items are discarded that cannot be broken down. No matter what the reason, if you call an emergency plumber during the Holidays, he's likely to head straight into the kitchen without needing to know the exact reason for your call.

Here are some tips: First, even if you aren't going to be the actual cook for this meal (we know how pushy your mother-in-law can be), make sure that everyone who is going to be using the disposal knows what shouldn't be put in there:

No corn husks No grease No bones No potato skins No egg shells No lettuce No metal, of course

Second, don't stuff too much down the disposal at once. Do a little at a time. If you see a problem starting, call an emergency plumber before you find yourself standing in a flooded kitchen.

It can be a tricky hoop to jump through, since this meal is often a group effort, but you either need to marshal everything that will go in the disposal or put out a mandate of how to use it. Everyone will, of course, feel insulted, but it is better to be safe than to have your kitchen flood just as everyone sits down to eat.

So Many Guests
On a typical Thanksgiving, a normal household of 4-5 people can swell to more than 20, what with both sides of the family and all their kids. So consider that there might be 4-5 times the amount of hands being washed, glasses of water to fill, and trips to the bathroom, which is going to distress your plumbing in general.

While there is nothing you can do to force people to use the bathroom less or cook less, you can make sure that all of the people in the house (mainly the kids) know what can and can't be flushed. You might even say to your guests that the plumbing has been acting up so keep a close eye on it. This will ensure that your guests are mindful of the plumbing when they use the garbage disposal or visit the water closet, and it might, just might, keep your local plumber off your guest list this Thanksgiving.