It seems like we blinked and then the holiday season was upon us, right? Like it or not, it’s time to start making plans—and of course this year those plans are going to look a lot different than we thought they would. Still though, whether it’s your adult children coming over or a few people in your “quaranbubble” the fact is that you might be having guests over for the holidays. And with guests comes an increased demand on your plumbing system, believe it or not.
Read on as we uncover some of the most common plumbing repair calls we get this time of the year, and learn what to do about them.
Caring for Your Kitchen
One of the most frequent calls we get for plumbing repairs this time of year is related to kitchen sink clogs. There are a number of things that cause this problem. Certain foods, for example, go down the drain that never should, sometimes because homeowners have a little too much faith in their garbage disposal systems—these are powerful devices but not right for everything!
You should avoid putting food items like potato skins, celery stalks and hard foods like fruit pits down the drain and instead throw these items in the trash.
Another item that your garbage disposal system isn’t going to help with at all is FOG. That is, fats, oils and grease. What happens is that FOG starts cooling off and congeals at it does so. Even if a clog or backup doesn’t happen right away, the continuous dumping of FOG down the kitchen sink drain will eventually build up to become a huge mess that could have been prevented.
Last but certainly not least, other items that shouldn’t go down your drain include anything that expands with water—rice, bread, pasta, and beans are all great examples. They act like sponges, and when they’re saturated with water, they can easily clog up the drain.
Caring for Your Bathroom
We know that it’s not advised right now to host big get-togethers, but even if you’re just having a few guests over it will serve you well to consider your bathroom plumbing. Things happens like people flushing trash down the toilet, young kids using too much toilet paper or knocking something down the toilet, or even your hot water running out due to increased demand.
While some of these examples might not necessarily lead to an emergency, they’re still very inconvenient problems, especially over the holidays.
Caring for Your Water Heater
As we alluded to above, having guests over leads to increased demand for your water heater. This means you can run out of hot water, or your water heater can experience other problems—particularly if it’s an aging system. A good thing to do before you intend to have a number of overnight guests over is to schedule a water heater tune-up to have your system inspected and adjusted if needed.
For professional plumbing in St. Peters, MO, look no further than Performance Plumbing. Contact us today!