GREENSBORO, N.C. — After stuffing yourself full of food, the last thing you want to deal with on your holiday is clogged drains or pipes.
It's very possible with extra guests over at the house and piles of dirty dishes, something could go wrong and then out of nowhere the water could overflow.
Lee Amos with Master Plumbers Heating and Cooling said they stay busy on Black Friday. Some plumbers even refer to it as 'Brown Friday.'
"I would say Black Friday is one of our busiest times of the year," Amos said.
Amos has seen everything from forks and knives causing a clog to toothpicks and even a Q-tip. Something like that can lead to a expensive trip from the plumber. Amos said drains can run from $100 to thousands of dollars to unclog.
So how to you prevent this? Here's some advice from Amos.
- Don't put anything larger than a quarter down the disposal
- Don't put foods like lettuce, rice or beans down the drain
- Grease can clog your down. Try to use dish detergent and hot water to unclog
- After using the disposal, use ice to clean the blades
- Try not to use harsh chemicals to unclog the drain. It can lead to more problems in the future
"Something that is very small can cause a major problem and we wouldn't want that to happen for folks. We're here to take care of it and when it happens they have to call us, but we wouldn't want to advise people to do things that would cause big problems," Amos said.