How to Prevent Holiday Plumbing Problems

how to prevent holiday plumbing probelms

Plumbing problems are…. not exactly festive. But unfortunately, our houses are extra prone to plumbing problems this time of year. All that cooking, feasting, and hosting places additional strain on your home plumbing system that can result in untimely breakdowns. The good news is that it takes just a little extra precaution to prevent the most common holiday plumbing problems.

Common Holiday Plumbing Problems

Broken Garbage Disposal

A big holiday feast means lots of dishes to scrape clean and wash. You may follow the do’s and don’ts of garbage disposal maintenance during regular life, but when you’re trying to rush through the dishes so you can join your family in front of the fireplace, it can be tempting to think that ignoring those rules just this once won’t do that much harm. Don’t give in to that temptation.

The two primary causes of garbage disposal breakdowns are overstuffing the garbage disposal and trying to grind the wrong foods. To avoid clogging or breaking your garbage disposal, take care to cut larger chunks of food up into smaller pieces before putting them down the disposal, and don’t push too much food into the disposal at once. Stick to the guidelines about what types of food you can and can’t put down the garbage disposal.

Dishwasher Not Draining

Once you finish scraping off all those plates, you need the dishwasher to get them clean. But with so many loads of holiday dishes to do, your dishwasher might be struggling to keep up. The most common problem we see with dishwashers over the holidays is that food debris builds up until it’s blocking the drain, preventing the dishwasher from draining after the cycle.

To prevent your dishwasher’s drain from clogging, do an extra diligent job of scraping off your plates first—either into the garbage disposal or into the trash, depending on what you served for Christmas dinner. If your dishwasher does stop draining, bail out the water, then remove the screws from the drain basket and clean out both the basket and interior of the dishwasher to remove all food waste.

Clogged Toilet

With lots of guests traipsing through your home throughout the holidays, repeated toilet clogging is a real possibility—albeit one that is easily preventable. Most of the time when guests try to flush something they shouldn’t, it’s because they’re not familiar with your home and don’t know where they should properly dispose of things. Make sure there’s an empty wastebasket next to your toilet so that guests can discretely dispose of sanitary napkins, baby wipes, and tissues. Keep a plunger under the sink so that you can quickly deal with a clog if one arises.

Call Bonfe for Holiday Plumbing Problems

If you do experience a holiday plumbing breakdown, don’t fret—call Bonfe. Our techs are available from 7am-10pm, 7 days/week, with emergency service 24/7. We even make emergency calls on holidays.

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