It may seem odd that we’re already talking about the holidays. After all, we aren’t even to Halloween yet! However, if you celebrate and plan on hosting any get-togethers or parties in your home this holiday season, then the following tips are for you.
We’d like to help you avoid any major problems with your home—particularly, your plumbing—this holiday season. After all, is there a worse time of year to deal with a plumbing emergency? Well okay, plumbing problems are never convenient or fun, but it’s compounded by this hectic time of the year, for sure! If you do run into one of these issues, be sure to only trust a professional plumber in Westminster, CO to inspect or repair your plumbing system.
Holiday Meals and Your Kitchen Sink
One of the most common plumbing problems we get called for this time of the year, or any time we’re dealing with kitchen plumbing, really, is a clogged up kitchen sink. Many things can cause this. Certain foods, for instance, go down the drain that should never have, despite having a garbage disposal in place. Celery stalks, potato skins, corn husks and hard foods like fruit pits should only be disposed of in the trash, rather than your sink.
Another enemy to your kitchen sink that causes clogs is FOG—that is, fats, oils and grease. What happens is that FOG congeals as it cools. So even if it doesn’t create a clog or backup in your sink right away, continuous dumping of FOG down your kitchen sink drain will eventually build up to become a huge mess that could have been avoided.
Lastly, anything that expands with water should never go down the drain. This includes beans, rice, pasta, and bread. They’re like sponges, and when saturated with water it will easily clog up your drain.
Holiday Guests and Your Bathroom
If you’re hosting a party or even just hosting some family for the weekend, your bathroom can suffer. We say this because things can happen like people flushing trash down the toilet, kids using too much toilet paper or knocking something down it, or even your hot water running out due to increased demand. The latter doesn’t typically result in a plumbing emergency but is important to be aware of. More on that below!
Be Mindful of Your Water Heater
As we mentioned above, your hot water can run out due to the increased demand that holiday guests bring to your home. But this isn’t the only water heater threat this time of year. The cold air that comes with winter causes expansion and contraction in your water heater. In an older unit, this can result in fractures and subsequent leaks, or in severe cases, flooding.
Routine maintenance is the leading way to ensure that your water heater is in good shape and ready to face not only the holiday season, but winter as a whole.
