The holiday season is upon us and Utah Rooter, the home of Clear Drain, wishes you all a wonderful celebration. The holidays bring wonder and excitement, but they can also contribute to drain cleaning and rootering problems.
(Pixabay / Life-Of-Pix)
Lavish meals may tax kitchen drains. More cooking means more grease and more food waste going down the kitchen drain and into the food disposal. Additionally, a crush of out-of-town guests can stretch bathroom to its limits. More house guests will mean more people taking showers and more toilets flushing. If your system is already partially clogged, this uptick in activity could push it over its limits.
At this time of year, drain cleaning and rootering companies tend to be busy with emergency calls for clogged drains and toilets. In fact, it is common for drain cleaning companies to get from 20 to 40 percent more calls per day over the holidays.
Taking the following precautions can prevent the inconvenience, and the cost, of calling a professional drain cleaner and rooter during the holidays:
- Do not pour cooking oil or fats down the drain. They can solidify and clog the pipes. Wipe grease from pots and pans with paper towels and put the soiled paper towels in the trash. Pour larger amounts of grease into containers and throw the containers away.
- Do not put fibrous waste in the garbage disposal as it is difficult to break down. Waste such as celery, pumpkin pulp, potato peels, chicken skin, and similar items can clog your disposal.
- When using the garbage disposal, run cold water for 15 seconds before and after in order to flush the waste down the main sewer line.
- Do not put waste into the garbage disposal before turning it on. Do the opposite: Run it first before feeding it with food scraps.
- Spread out showers. Wait 10 minutes between showers in order to give a slow drain the time to do its job.
- Turn up the thermostat of your water heater to meet the demand of more people using hot water.
- Provide a trash can in the bathroom to prevent people from dumping trash into the toilet.
- Remind guests not to flush cotton swabs or balls, facial scrub pads, or hair down the toilet. Those items do not dissolve and are prime culprits in clogged drains.
Take these precautions to ward off holiday drain cleaning and rootering disasters. If problems do crop up, though, we at Utah Rooter are ready to provide timely, expert service and get your holidays back on track.