Mike’s Plumbing Tips: Christmas Edition
Seasons Greetings!
If you read Mike’s Tips for Thanksgiving, many still apply for Christmas (and New Year’s Eve too!). Here are some more details to help you avoid a problem during the dinners and parties you host and attend. We’ve divided them into Bathroom Goals and Kitchen Goals
The Bathroom Goals
Goal number 1 in the bathroom(s) is to eliminate anything that might accidentally fall into the toilet bowl. Likewise, child-age guests, wanting to see holiday knick-knacks flushed out to sea, should be hindered by putting anything tempting up high and away.
Goal number 2 is what one of my friends calls “TP Mittens”. This is not only children but adults also get carried away with covering their entire hands several times with toilet paper. Here’s where a new, conspicuously placed plunger can avoid your guests an embarrassing moment. Tip: Single-ply toilet paper will greatly assist in reducing this potential problem.
Goal number 3 is to ensure clean hands by providing a pump dispenser full of anti-bacterial soap. Pair the soap with new bathroom towels that are flushable, but keep a sign on the wastepaper basket that any besides biological and toilet paper goes in there.
The Kitchen Goals
Kitchen goal number 1. Just like our bathroom goals, we want to make sure that nothing that can cause a clog goes down the kitchen sink drain. Keep a jar with a lid (like for spaghetti sauce) to hold cooking grease and oils. Put the jar in the sink and pour the grease and oil into the jar, mopping any excess with paper towels. Then once it has cooled, throw the tightly covered jar into the trash.
Kitchen goal number 2. If you are fortunate to have garbage disposal under your sink, be careful what you try to put into it. Any poultry bones and stringy vegetables like celery are more likely to clog the disposal that actually chews it up, and pushes it through the sewer line. If it does get clogged and all you here is a hum, PLEASE try to identify the correct circuit breaker on the electric panel. Don’t rely exclusively on the wall switch. Turn off the breaker, and once you are certain there is no power going to the disposal, try removing whatever food, bones, or debris (plastic utensils have a way of getting in there too), and then try again, with your hands far away from the drain and unit. If it does nothing but hum, it may have overheated, and again, turn off the power, remove debris, and let it sit for a while to cool down and it may reset. Still nothing? Time to call your friends at Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC at 201-343-1414 for some professional assistance.
Kitchen goal number 3. Overloading the dishwater with food and remnants still on the plate. Just like any other drain, if you try to push everything on plates, bowls, and cookware through the dishwasher’s drain filter. It’s best to rinse or soak heavily baked food than to try to get the dishwasher to do it all – no matter what the TV commercial says.
That should do it. Mike Muccia and the entire team at Muccia Plumbing, Heating & AC wish you the happiest of holidays and a very blessed 2018. Don’t forget our $25 off coupon is available and good through year-end at mucciaplumbing.com/coupon/
