CINCINNATI (LOOTPRESS) – The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for service plumbers like Roto-Rooter. Big holiday gatherings, meal preparation and kitchen cleanup overloads kitchen sinks, garbage disposals, toilets and main sewers, creating stress for host families and lots of work for plumbers. Retailers call the day Black Friday, but Roto-Rooter calls it “Brown Friday” because of the sewage and wastewater involved.
Roto-Rooter, North America’s largest provider of plumbing repair and sewer & drain services, will experience a 50% increase in call volume over an average Friday, and a 21% uptick in business over any other four-day weekend period. “Extra guests mean more toilet flushes, showers, dishwasher and laundry loads, and garbage disposal usage. Simply put, Thanksgiving puts a heavy strain on American plumbing systems and it keeps our plumbers super busy the next day,” said Paul Abrams, Roto-Rooter spokesman.
Roto-Rooter will be open and available throughout the four-day Thanksgiving weekend to deal with extra service calls. Practically every Roto-Rooter service technician in the country works on “Brown Friday” to meet demand. So important is the day after Thanksgiving that Roto-Rooter even created a funny television commercial about its efforts to staff up for it.
To avoid plumbing and drain trouble over Thanksgiving weekend, follow these tips:
- Never pour grease, turkey drippings or cooking oil down drains. They solidify in pipes like candle wax and choke drains.
- Don’t put potato peels, poultry skins, bones, rice or pasta down the garbage disposal. Disposals can handle small quantities of scraps, but most food should go into the trash can or compost pile.
- Make sure the garbage disposal is running when you add food scraps.
- Don’t flush wet wipes down toilets. Most won’t dissolve and may clog drainpipes and sewers.
- Place plungers in guest bathrooms to save guests the embarrassment of asking for one.
- Spread out showers and laundry loads so pipes have time to drain.
To learn more about Roto-Rooter’s Thanksgiving/Brown Friday plumbing rush, read our blog.