How to Avoid Thanksgiving Day Plumbing Nightmares

Posted by bellbros

Plumbing

We’re all grownups here, so we can tell it like it is: There are endless possibilities for things that can go wrong on Thanksgiving. The only turkey you bought for the occasion could burn. A few of your relatives could get in some heated political debates. Your sore-loser uncle could carry on about how his football team should have won. And that’s not even counting all the mishaps that can happen with your plumbing. Here are, seriously, all the things that can go wrong and how to avoid Thanksgiving Day plumbing nightmares.

A Smelly, Clogged Garbage Disposal

Picture this: It’s Thanksgiving morning, and you’re prepping the dishes for the day. You’ve got the turkey in the pan, braised and stuffed. You’ve cracked the eggs for the stuffing, set out the veggies, and have the rolls in the oven already.

Something you don’t want wafting out of the kitchen, along with the savory scents of the feast to come, is the slightly sour smell of your clogged garbage disposal.

Despite the results you’ll find in Google, DIY garbage disposal cleaning won’t quite do the trick. Lemon and baking soda will only mask the smell or lead to a paste that could end up clogging your disposal even more. Instead, give us a call to send out a drain specialist to have your garbage disposal unclogged.

In the meantime, please don’t put those egg shells down the drain.

Nasty Tap Water

Thanksgiving Day, the big event: People are eating the food that has taken hours to plan, prep, cook, and season. You had this whole day planned out, so you have drinks to spare, from the most popular soda to bottled water.

Your nieces and nephews don’t drink soda anymore though. “Do you know how bad those things are for you?” your niece scoffs. “You can use a Coke to clean a car battery.”

When you offer your nephew a bottle of water, he declines. “Plastic is killing our planet,” he says.

The built-in filter in your fridge has needed replacing for ages. You don’t even notice the little red light anymore. So, basically, this means you have to offer your guests tap water, which already tastes bad to you, but tastes even worse to the out-of-towners.

Having water filtration installed in your home is easier and more affordable than you might think. Before your guests arrive, call our plumbing professional to talk about your water filtration options.

Running Toilets

After the big Thanksgiving meal and in between bouts of snacking, there’s always someone waiting for your guest bathroom. A few people have helped themselves to your master bathroom, unwilling to wait. But they don’t know the special trick about the toilet handle, how gentle you have to be to keep it from running all day.

Not only does the noise of your toilet running become an embarrassing display, but you’re also wasting a ton of water during the process, especially if this is a problem for more than one toilet.

Put the toilet handle trick to rest. You shouldn’t have to live that way, and your guests shouldn’t be expected to either. Give us a call and one of our plumbing professionals will come out and repair your toilet at a reasonable price.

A Hair-Stuffed Shower Drain

Your In-Laws are staying over through Thanksgiving weekend. “Why not?” your spouse says. “We have a spare room.” And that’s how your mother-in-law comes to tell you, passive aggressively, over the breakfast you cooked her the next morning that she had to stand in several inches of water while she took a shower.

You can avoid the drama boiling beneath the surface here by having your drain unclogged before your guests arrive.

In the same vein as clogged garbage disposals, the internet sure has a lot to say about unclogging shower drains. It offers well-meaning advice, but the results could mean pushing the hair-plug further down the drain and causing even more plumbing issues down the line.

An Old Water Heater

Your father-in-law has a few things to say about the state of the guest bathroom too, although, unlike your mother-in-law, he doesn’t try to mask his upset with back-handed compliments. “I took a cold shower this morning,” he tells your spouse curtly, where you can clearly hear him.

Your mother-in-law appears out of nowhere to add, “Your brother got one of those newer water heaters for his house, and it heats up all the bathrooms in no time. And you know how big his house is, so that’s really saying something!”

Before you get mad at your spouse’s mom for poking at a dormant sibling rivalry, you should know that she’s right—about the newer water heaters. They’re more energy efficient, they heat the water much faster, and they’re much more affordable than you think. Call us before inviting any house guests to stay over and one of our experts will happily walk you through your options.

Leaky Faucets in Your Guest Bathrooms

The brother your mother-in-law mentioned earlier: He and his new wife are staying at a hotel outside of town, even though you have another spare room available. Although, of course, you’re secretly glad about this, you also wonder what’s so wrong with your spare room that someone would actually pay money and drive out of their way to avoid staying in your home.

You, your spouse, and your In-Laws meet the brother and his new wife for lunch downtown, although you mentioned several times that there are plenty of leftovers still (and won’t someone please make room in your fridge by taking some of it off your hands, ha-ha?). During this exchange, the new wife gushes over the quality of the hotel, and then slips this in: “When we came over yesterday and I heard that constant dripping from your faucet, oh, I just knew I’d never get a wink of sleep!”

Yes, a leaky faucet can be that big of a deal, and although you’re writing her off in your heart as being “high maintenance,” your sister-in-law is right. It’s not just that the noise is bothersome. You’re actually losing gallons of water this way, putting your energy bill on the rise. Bell Brothers will send out a professional plumber to stop that leaky faucet in its tracks before you have to live out this scenario.

A Clogged Main Sewer Drain

This is it: The big nightmare. This is the absolute worst thing that could happen on Thanksgiving Day, or really anytime that weekend when your relatives are staying over.

Imagine, if you dare, the thought of having a meal (leftovers or otherwise) with your family members when you’re hit with a smell.

With so many people using your bathroom, a lot can go wrong. Things could get flushed that should not be flushed. This could cause a main sewer blockage. This could lead to seeping in your yard. A smell.

When this happens, there’s really nothing that can be done except to call Bell Brothers. But the best thing you can do to avoid this nightmare in the first place is to have your main sewer drain cleared by our drain specialist.