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  • 2022-11-25 (xsd:date)
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  • Is a Plumber's Busiest Day the Friday After Thanksgiving? (en)
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  • With American households preparing large dinners of turkey, sides, bread, and pies every year for the annual Thanksgiving holiday, it's no surprise that Black Friday has historically been considered the busiest day of the year for plumbers in the U.S. On Nov. 26, 2003, columnist Jeffrey Page with the New Jersey newspaper The Record published that grease and food slipping down kitchen drains, when combined with having houseguests needing to flushing the toilet, can potentially produce a holiday nightmare: We compiled data from other newspaper articles that were published in the past two days or so. All of the stories reported that the day after Thanksgiving, sometimes referred to as Black Friday by shoppers and Brown Friday by some plumbers, had historically been the day when plumbers across the country received the most calls for help. On Nov. 22, 2000, Steve Wiegand published a story for The Sacramento Bee with the headline, For plumbers, the day after Thanksgiving is no holiday. The article said that, Although there are no hard statistics, interviews with plumbers indicate that the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for those who practice the plumbing sciences. It also added that, as part of a survey, plumbing companies in the Sacramento area all said they saw about a 50 percent increase in calls compared to the average for other days of the year. On Nov. 23, 2007, The Associated Press reported that the national plumbing company Roto-Rooter also mentioned a 50 percent increase in calls. The main problems are caused by grease and cooking oil people put in garbage disposals, the article said. In order to minimize the strain on drain pipes, it was recommended to wipe grease from pots and pans with paper towels and to throw those towels away in the trash. Note: The same 50 percent increase in calls number was still mentioned as of November 2022 on rotorooter.com. On Nov. 27, 2014, The Californian newspaper in Salinas published an interview with Mary Kennedy Thompson, president of Mr. Rooter Plumbing, whose headquarters are in Waco, Texas. Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for plumbers, Thompson said, adding that garbage disposals weren't designed to replace the trash can. The article also contained a few tips, one of which said to not operate the dishwasher if a problem is suspected, as all of the discharge will come out of the garbage disposal. On Nov. 28, 2019, The Citizen-Times of Asheville, North Carolina, published a story with a mention of Brown Friday. The article began, Forget about Black Friday. Plumbers know the day after Thanksgiving as something else altogether: 'Brown Friday,' so-named for the increase in service calls. The story named 10 food items that consumers shouldn't put down their drains, according to plumbers. They include artichoke leaves, eggshells, carrots, vegetable peels, celery (or any other fibrous vegetable), bones, pineapple rinds, asparagus, coffee grounds, and onion skin. The story from the Citizen-Times also included the following guidance about using store-bought drain cleaners. Some homeowners might opt to try one of the drain cleaning products if they can't get a plumber over to the house quickly. However, Asheville's Blue Planet Plumbing advised against doing so: We found numerous examples of other plumbing companies advising people of the hazards of using drain cleaners. If readers have any questions about this subject, we recommend contacting a licensed plumber in your local area. (en)
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