It’s the holiday season. Family and friends are visiting to partake of a grand meal and possibly stay over. Household appliances and plumbing are pushed to the breaking point, and in some cases, well beyond it.
“Usually things happen at the most inconvenient time,” said Doug Mohler, general manager at Jiffy Plumbing, Heating and Cooling in Frederick. “It’s Murphy’s law.”
During his decades-long career, Mohler said he has seen his share of holiday-related casualties: broken garbage disposals, dishwashers and water heaters; clogged drains and overflowing toilets.
People tend to gather in large numbers on Thanksgiving. They generate more trash, use more water and take more hot showers.
When something goes wrong — a turkey bone or silver fork inadvertently dropped into the garbage disposal, for instance — Mohler and his colleagues get a call.
“They’re very appreciative when the truck rolls up,” he said.
Charlie Crum, a master plumber, president of Crum Inc., and secretary of the Frederick County Master Plumbers Association, said for the most part, odd calls increase during Thanksgiving.
Potato peels and leek husks are among common culprits leading to plumbing issues in the kitchen, he said.
Calls for service increase generally during all long weekends, Crum said.
Sanford Kramer, owner of Sanford Kramer Inc., which serves the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas, including Frederick County, said any occasion that calls for mass quantities of food, a “food holiday,” can translate into a busy day at the office.
Lots of food refuse, most of which should just go into the trash, winds up clogging the pipes, he said. Onion skins are a good example.
Particularly in older houses where grease and fat deposits have built up over the years, a sudden overload to the system could spell disaster.
“The kitchen drain is not really designed to be a solid waste disposal,” Kramer said.
He recalled one Christmas Eve, when a house party where caterers were having their way in the kitchen resulted in a clogged drain line.
“You get hugged at the door when something like that happens,” he said.
