Sanford homeowners hosting relatives over Thanksgiving should expect their plumbing and water heating systems to work harder than at any other point in the year, according to Comfort First Heating & Cooling, which is preparing for what the plumbing trade calls Brown Friday.
The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for plumbers. According to plumbing, sewer and drain service provider Roto-Rooter, service calls jump 50% the day after the holiday, a figure KTVU FOX 2 reported last year, and calls rise 21% across the Thursday-to-Sunday stretch of the holiday weekend. Roto-Rooter attributes the surge to pipes and disposals being pushed to their limits by full houses, extra showers and heavier kitchen use, with greasy turkey drippings and food scraps compounding the clogs.
Hot water carries a parallel load. Water heater maker Rheem reports that additional guests and multiple showers in a day increase demand, while colder inlet water requires a longer heating cycle and higher wattage draw. Rheem puts the seasonal rise in water heater usage at 15% to 25% during the winter months.
For a Sanford household, those pressures converge on a single kitchen sink, one water heater and one sewer line within a few days. A disposal that jams on Thursday afternoon, a guest bathroom toilet that will not clear, or showers that run cold by the third guest are the failures most likely to surface first.
"A kitchen sink that has been draining slowly all fall is usually the one that stops on Thanksgiving," said Adam Hagen, general manager at Comfort First Heating & Cooling. "The holiday does not create the problem so much as find it. Keeping grease and starchy scraps out of the drain, spacing out showers, and paying attention when more than one fixture gurgles at the same time will prevent most of the calls that come in that weekend."
The company advises pouring cooled grease and turkey drippings into a can or jar for the trash, since fats solidify in pipes; keeping poultry skin, celery, potato peels and rice out of the disposal and running water while feeding it scraps; placing a plunger and small wastebasket in each guest bathroom and asking guests not to flush wet wipes, even those labelled flushable; and staggering showers and laundry loads so the water heater can recover. Homeowners should also listen for a water heater that rumbles or pops, or hot water that runs out sooner than usual, and have it checked before guests arrive. If two or more drains back up or gurgle simultaneously, the company says to stop running water and call a plumber, because the main sewer line may be the cause.
The guidance matters beyond one weekend of convenience. Comfort First, founded in 2010, is a full-service HVAC, plumbing and generator company serving Sanford and the wider Triangle area, and Sanford residents can learn more about plumbing services online. The company, a North Carolina home-services firm offering heating, cooling, plumbing, indoor air quality and generator services across the Triangle, Triad, Charlotte, Jacksonville and Outer Banks areas, maintains further information at yourcomfortfirst.com. For a region where holiday hosting concentrates stress on aging fixtures and water heaters, the warning is a reminder that the busiest plumbing day of the year is largely preventable.
