A Plumbing Guide to Surviving the Holidays
- The holiday season brings great joy to many people around the globe. Little children go to sleep Christmas Eve with visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in there head, etc., etc. That being said to a lot of other folks the holidays mean STRESS. House-guests, parties, cooking, baking, more parties, more baking, kids crying, long lines at the department stores, Cousin Eddie coming and hitting the egg nog hard and then, last but not least, a plumbing disaster. Well here are a few ideas, from a plumber, to solve a few of those problems.Toilet maintenance. This is one you don’t hear about a lot. People maintain their furnace, their car, but your toilet get used every day and when it goes out; there is an issue. You and your family use the facilities in a certain way, but when you have house-guests, they may not treat your porcelain throne with the respect you do. Check the tightness of your tank to bowl connection. This is the part where the top (tank) is secured to the bottom. The tank should have a very minimal amount of rock to it. Tighten the bolts, but not too tight. You should never use a socket wrench or any large high torque tool for tightening these bolts. Check the setting of the bowl. It should not rock or move on the floor. Tighten the bolts setting the bowl to the floor, with the same principal. You do not want to crack the china. If the bolts just spin and do not tighten up, you might have a broken closet flange and need the help of a licensed plumber. Believe me, after the third helping of turkey, you will want your toilet working in tip top shape.
- Bacon is not the only place that grease comes from. Some of the worst grease blockage I have ever dealt with were at bakeries.
Who Doesn’t Like Bacon
The shortening and grease used making cookies and cakes is stickier than the grease used in frying. Wipe your cookie sheets off with a damp paper towel before washing them so the grease from the sheet goes in the garbage can and not down your drain. After cleaning up the Thanksgiving dishes you deserve a nice cup of coffee, not a three round fight with a plunger to unclog your kitchen sink. Also, all those pan drippings. If you are not putting them in your gravy, let them cool and skim the fat off. That should not go down the drain either.
- Ask for a new kitchen sink for Christmas. A new sink and faucet is a great gift idea for the “hard to buy” for spouse. Also, you know it will be something the whole family will enjoy a lot more than a one year subscription to
the jelly of the month club. This time, you should eliminate the garbage disposal. Water is supposed to go down your drains, not garbage. Garbage goes in the garbage can. Unfortunately a lot of folks think if it can fit down the disposal, then that’s where it should go. This is one of our number one calls for the day after Thanksgiving! Toilets make a great gift too. Nothing says you care more than one of our Ultra Flush toilets. It comes with a NEVER CLOG GUARANTEE. You can throw away your plunger because if you stop this up you will need a professional to come out and open the blockage.
We can’t keep your Cousin Eddie out of the liquor cabinet, but we will be open at 7:30 AM the day after Thanksgiving to try and help eliminate some of the stress of the holiday season.