How To Protect Your Sink And Save Thanksgiving In The Process

Think of Thanksgiving as a sort of annual Olympics for lots of home plumbing systems; it’s when your kitchen sink and especially your garbage disposal get stress-tested to the max and occasionally pushed past their limits. And of course, usually when you’re in the middle of preparing a big, delicious family feast, is when everything grinds to a halt. Murphy ’s Law dictates for it to happen at the worst time possible, and Thanksgiving and Christmas rank at the top of that list.

Pro-active Is Preventative

That’s why we can’t recommend enough that anyone planning a big Thanksgiving gathering needs to give us a call at Roger’s Plumbing and schedule a home inspection for your kitchen sinks and appliances, remember that dishwashers can easily become a problem area, too. Don’t forget about the drainage lines for any guest bathrooms that will see above-normal use from holiday house guests. Washing machine lines and water heaters will get extra use as well. Plumbing maintenance and inspections for these high-use aspects of your plumbing system may save the day.

An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure

In this instance, the above can really hit home. In about an hour’s visit we can perform an inspection of the kitchen line and the main sewer line to see if there are any problems lurking, and can either run an auger cable through or use a high-pressure aqua drive process that does a full 360 degree cleaning to keep everything flowing properly. On top of having your lines inspected and cleaned out ahead of time, there are also a few “don’t do” tips to keep in mind in the heat of holiday food prep.

Disposal VS. Trash

The easiest tip is to remember to practice moderation when it comes to tossing food items down the disposal and instead toss kitchen waste in the trash as much as possible. Seemingly harmless things like egg shells wind up getting ground into a sand-like texture that can stop up moving parts, and food that expands like pasta and rice can very easily clog up a sink if it gets stuck in a moist environment for too long.

Resist Harsh Cleaners

And most plumbing professionals can’t stress enough that you need to avoid the temptation to use a chemical cleaner to handle clogs in a pinch, because it’s a mixture that’s bad for the environment and can damage the hardware in your plumbing lines very easily. Instead, give us a call if you need a professional and we’ll gladly do whatever we can to get the big feast and family time back on track.