APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The Friday after Thanksgiving is a busy one for those in the retail business, but it is also one of the bigger days of the year for plumbers.
To some, it is called “Brown Friday” because garbage disposals can take quite a bit of abuse on a holiday.
Randy Lorge of Shawano is an experienced plumber who now is using his knowledge to help teach the next generation of plumbers. He says when it comes to garbage disposal use, less is more.
“What doesn’t belong down the drain should not go down the drain. The garbage is the garbage.”
He says too often, people misuse the garbage disposal and sinks to try to get rid of food waste from a big holiday meal.
“It tends to lead to more solids down the drain and plugging it up because of the volume of the size meals we make.”
He says not only is it a task for plumbers to take on, but it can also be pretty costly to for the homeowner.
“It can snowball once you start opening up something like that. What went from a simple pulling the trap off went to a miniature repipe of the whole system.”
Lorge said plumbers are also busy after holidays fixing issues in the home’s bathroom.
“A lot of times it is the overuse. You get more people in the house or you have a home that is not on city sewer, you can actually start to have septic problems.”
Holiday food items to avoid feeding your disposal are egg shells, potato peels, and carrot peels.
