When it comes to the holidays, there’s no getting around the all the rich food you’ll eat. During the season, you’re practically guaranteed to have to take down a ham and a turkey or two. While we may be able to handle stuffing ourselves silly, or plumbing systems aren’t always so lucky. Between the grease, food scraps and careless family members, you’re sure to have plumbing issues during the holidays unless you prepare yourself beforehand.
Luckily, it isn’t difficult to steel yourself, and your plumbing, for the oncoming gauntlet of holiday feasts. With these few tips and some help from your friends at Built With Freedom you can navigate this season with ease.
Organize Your Waste Streams
Your sink drains can only handle so much waste, so it helps separate your food waste before washing dishes. Start by cleaning compostables off of your plates and into a compost bin or other proper container. You should place any other scraps in the trash to minimize the amount of work your disposal system needs to perform. While this goes without saying, don’t let plastic or other inorganic waste wash down your sink. Otherwise you’re sure to have a clog form in your lines.
Practice Proper Garbage Disposal Technique
When it comes time to run your garbage disposal system, avoid overloading the feed. No matter how robust your disposal is, it’ll never be able to cope with an entire sink’s worth of waste. Avoid jamming your disposal by only feeding it scraps with warm water flowing through it. This method will allow your system to perform more efficiently.
Protect Your Disposal
Certain foods produce waste that is never fit for your garbage disposal. These include but are not limited to:
- Eggs: Eggs contain membranes that wrap around some of your disposal’s components, potentially rendering them useless. Once ground down, the shells are difficult to get rid of and often result in serious clogs.
- Fats: Fats and greases coat your system’s blades, thereby reducing their effectiveness. This same grease can also cause clogs to form in your lines, and you should avoid it at all costs.
- Vegetable or Fruit Skins: While they may seem harmless, vegetable and fruit skins tend to get caught underneath your disposal system’s blades, reducing their effectiveness.
- Bones, Shells, Pits, and Seeds: These tough byproducts can dull your system’s blades, slow operation, and even result in a burnt-out motor! Avoid byproducts at all costs.
- Stringy Vegetables: Stringy vegetables, such as celery, often congest your system similarly to fruit and vegetable skins.
- Rice, Pasta, or Tea Leaves: These soft foods can gum up your blades and even eventually form serious clogs.
Look For Signs of Leaks Or Clogs
Don’t let existing issues sneak up on you during the holidays. Before you have any of your family gathering, inspect any areas you may suspect of having leaks or other issues. If you’re not sure how to identify problem areas, keep these signs in mind:
- Wet Spots: Areas of unusual wetness are often the result of a leaking or burst pipe on your property.
- Mold: Mold and mildew often occur in areas where building materials have come in contact moisture.
- Flooded or Sagging Lawns: When sewer lines leak onto your property, you’ll often find that pools of water will form on your lawn.
- Foundation Cracks: Slab or sewer line leaks can damage your home’s foundation and even make your home unlivable!
If you’re experiencing any of these issues, call the professionals from Built With Freedom before its too late and a minor issue becomes a catastrophe.
Let A Professional Inspect Your Plumbing
The best way to ensure the integrity of your plumbing during the holiday season is to call a plumber to do a regular inspection. This examination will give you an overview of your system’s health and alert you to any existing issues that may worsen during the holidays. That means you won’t have to worry about your disposal system shutting down on you in the middle of your celebration. Better yet, you’ll avoid any potential back-ups and the embarrassment that comes with them.
Built With Freedom Helps You Ensure Your Home’s Safety
Hopefully, these few tips are enough to help you avoid the most common plumbing issues people encounter during the holiday season. However, accidents happen, but thankfully, you have us help you whenever you run into problems. When you need help preparing for the holiday season, let Built With Freedom help you with our water line and sewer services. We’ll help ensure that your plumbing system is in top form so that you can tackle this holiday season with confidence.