What’s Brown Friday? It’s the busiest day of the year for plumbers, they say

Brooke Wolford
·3 min read

Thanksgiving can get pretty messy as people dirty up their kitchens preparing the perfect holiday feast.

But the mess doesn’t stop there — plates littered with leftovers find their way to the kitchen sink and often end up being dumped down the garbage disposal,, Roto-Rooter says.

Brown Friday

“The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as ‘Black Friday’ in retail circles but it is “Brown Friday” for plumbers,” according to the company’s website. “It really is the busiest day of the year for Roto-Rooter, whose 7,000 service technicians and plumbers across the country will be on the job and battling America’s clogs.”

“Incoming calls to Roto-Rooter, mostly for kitchen plumbing jobs, will jump 50% over an average Friday,” Roto-Rooter says.

Grease is “public enemy number one,” according to Family Handyman magazine. Grease from cooking turkey and making gravy might be liquid while hot, but once it hits the cold pipes “it solidifies and sticks,” the magazine says.

The grease from turkey skins dumped into the disposal can also devastate pipes, according to Nicholson Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in Massachusetts.

Among other bad things you can put down the disposal are potato skins, Family Handyman says.

“Grease and potatoes aren’t something people typically worry about around Thanksgiving, but together they form the primary culprits for blockages,” according to the magazine. “Bones down a drain can also be a common issue, but grease and potatoes still take the top spots.”

Plumbers deal mostly with “kitchen sink clogs/jammed garbage disposals,” but they also get a lot of calls about main sewer and toilet clogs on Brown Friday, Roto-Rooter says.

Since a lot of people host larger gatherings at home for the holiday, those guests tend to create “extra strain on the plumbing system” with showers, baths, flushes and perhaps extra loads of laundry, according to the company.

These increased strains on plumbing systems, on top of pre-existing problems that may have already clogged pipes, are “the proverbial last straw that breaks the camel’s back,” according to Texas-based Staggs Plumbing.

How to prevent clogs

Nicholson offers some guidance to keep things running smoothly during Thanksgiving clean-up. The company says to avoid throwing these foods down the drain: pastas/casseroles, turkey or chicken bones, stringy-fibrous vegetables — think asparagus, artichokes, carrot skins, celery, potato skins and corn husks — and egg shells.

The company also lists some general tips to avoid having to call a plumber:

  • “Keep the garbage disposal on as you put food down the drain. Don’t wait till it’s full to turn it on.”

  • “Keep the water on as you put food down the drain.”

  • “Don’t pour too much food down the drain at once.”

  • “Keep several trash bags ready. Since you’ll be throwing more foods down your trash, you’ll need more trash bags to handle the extra food.”

Thanksgiving in a pandemic

This Thanksgiving promises to be different than most because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommend smaller or virtual gatherings for holidays this year.

That could result in less demand for plumbers, Paul Abrams, Roto-Rooter Services’ director of public relations, told McClatchy News.

But the do’s and don’ts for food disposal still are in place, expert say.

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