OnlinePlumber brings together family, food, and unfortunately, a host of plumbing challenges. With kitchens operating at full throttle and extra bathroom use from guests, it’s no surprise plumbers call this one of their busiest times of the year.

Here’s a quick guide with helpful tips for sharing advice with your customers to ensure their pipes and drains are holiday-ready—and to keep your business on their minds well past the festivities.

The busiest season for plumbing tends to highlight common problems such as blocked drains, jammed garbage disposals, and overflowing toilets. Many homeowners also experience hot water shortages or burst pipes due to colder weather. The Friday after Thanksgiving, humorously labeled ‘Brown Friday,’ captures the essence of post-holiday plumbing chaos when systems struggle under increased usage—a fact supported by reports showing spikes in service requests not just on Friday but throughout the surrounding days.

By offering proactive solutions, you can help your customers avoid these issues altogether.

Here are some practical steps to share:

1. Prepare Your Home

Before hosting guests, encourage checking plumbing systems for minor leaks or blockages that could escalate with heavy use. Routine maintenance is critical for preventing emergencies, especially during high-demand days.

2. Minimize Kitchen Overcrowding

Suggest setting up beverage or snack stations outside the kitchen to manage traffic flow. This reduces unintended accidents, like items falling into the sink and creating hard-to-fix blockages, while also speeding up cleanup efforts.

3. Handle Grease Disposal Correctly

Remind homeowners that pouring hot grease down the drain is one of the leading causes of clogs. Instead, recommend letting grease cool and safely disposing of it in a designated container. This small action can save them—and you—from dealing with messy emergencies.

To properly get rid of turkey grease, let it cool down and transfer it into a disposable container—avoid using glass as the heat could cause it to shatter. Once the grease solidifies, simply toss the container in the trash.

Avoid using your garbage disposal as though it were a trash can. While convenient, disposals aren’t designed to handle everything leftover from Thanksgiving dinner. Misusing them can lead to unpleasant odors, clogged drains, or even damaged blades.

A good guideline for garbage disposals is this: if you wouldn’t chew it yourself, the disposal likely can’t process it either.

Here’s a list of items you should never put down the drain:

– Bones or fruit pits that can damage or crack the blades.

– Fibrous foods like celery that can wrap around and stall the motor.

– Starchy items such as potato peels or pasta that swell and form a sticky, gum-like residue instead of breaking down.

– Coffee grounds and eggshells, which don’t dissolve in water and instead create a sludge.