10 Useful Tips To Avoid Plumbing Mishaps During The Holidays

The holiday season is right around the corner, and this can put additional strain on your plumbing system. With all the increased household activities during the festivities, it’s best to be a few steps ahead to avoid any Christmas plumbing catastrophes.

So here are ten valuable tips to prevent plumbing issues from ruining your holiday time.

1. Kitchen Sink Drain Care

During the holiday season, your kitchen is likely to be the busiest place. The last thing you need while preparing a hearty meal is a clogged sink drain or an overwhelmed garbage disposal.

Common cooking ingredients such as fats, cooking grease, and oils can harden as they cool, sticking to the sides of your plumbing pipes and possibly closing them off completely. And watch out for those fibrous vegetables in the garbage disposal, as those fibers can get tangled and jam the disposal blades.

2. Toilet Plumbing Care

As more people use bathroom facilities in your house, they will flush the toilets more often. It goes without saying, but make sure to request your guests not to flush baby wipes, paper towels, or any other toiletries that can overwhelm your plumbing.

3. Manage The Pressure On The Water Heater

With more guests in the house, the amount of hot water used can increase. It’s only natural for people to seek the comfort of warm water in cold weather. It’s wise to foresee this and request that your house guests wait for at least 15 minutes between each shower for a more optimal and pleasant experience.

4. Look Out For Bursting Pipes

Home pipes are more susceptible to damage in freezing temperatures. A critical fault can hinder all of your home appliances and require expensive repairs to get them running again, making it essential to take a few necessary steps. If you plan on traveling away from your home, keep the heat on no lower than 10ºC or 50ºF.Water freezes at lower temperatures than this, but under cabinets and behind furniture it can drop below freezing even if your home is a bit warmer than freezing. Better make the overall house warmer than just barely warm enough to prevent freezing. Some people opt to drain all water pipes for extended times away. This is why winterizing your water system, remains a common practice in most cold regions across the world.

5. Schedule A Professional Inspection

A professional plumber looking at your house and its critical plumbing before the holidays is an excellent way to catch any potential issues or repairs beforehand. Not only will this give you peace of mind, but hiring a qualified service provider the likes of ars.com, can help minimize plumbing emergencies in the middle of festivities, and if something does happen, having someone on call is a great way to stay prepared.

6. Wait Before Using The Dishwasher

A holiday feast often means plenty of dishes, and substantially higher volume of waste for the garbage disposal. Using your dishwasher and garbage disposal can overload the drain. As a result, it is always recommended to wait before using the dishwasher, after giving due consideration to your plumbing infrastructure.

7. Kitchen For Cooking Only

Things tend to go wrong when there are a bunch of people in the kitchen at all times, amidst the large number of food prep activities. It’s a lot safer to keep the kitchen only for cooking, and not as a place to gather and discuss.  

8. Clean Your Drain

Pour a concentrated saltwater solution down your drains. This can help remove odors and wash out any gunk that may have been stuck there. Do this periodically ahead of any big feasting.

9. Place A Wastebasket In The Bathroom

Not only will this basket help your bathroom stay clean and ease your cleaning efforts after the holidays, but it will also stop people from flushing down random bits of trash that they may have.

10. Keep Tools Within Reach

Keep all the essential tools, such as a plunger by the toilet and a drain snake by the kitchen sink, so you can quickly troubleshoot problems on the fly, as and when they arise.

Final Words

These tips should lead to a better prepared, less-anxious, and a plumbing-disaster-free holiday. Beyond this, if you can take certain common sense precautions and the minimum necessary care, plumbing could very well be the last thing on your mind while having a blast this holiday season.