If you’re one of those sit-com families that sit around the table on Thanksgiving and tell everybody what you are grateful for this year, maybe your answer should be “plumbers”.
While you eat your turkey, various potatoes, squashes, vegetables, and cranberry sauce, spare a thought for plumbers, who are preparing for what has become known in the industry as “Brown Friday”. The day is often the busiest of the year for the professionals, as they tackle the aftermath of Thanksgiving.
According to data analyzed by Yelp, searches for “emergency plumbing” surged by an impressive 65 percent on the day following Thanksgiving in 2023 compared to the previous and following two weeks. Google data shows a similar spike in searches for the same term.
Los Angeles saw a particularly sharp increase in searches around Brown Friday, with a 73 percent increase in searches for terms related to plumbing, and a 400 percent increase in searches for “plumbing repair”.
Brown Friday is a bigger event in some cities than others.
Image credit: Yelp
The cause for this surge in interest in plumbing is fairly obvious, as people stay at home and use their toilets and sinks more, while also not following the best guidance on disposal of foods and fats.
“Turkey may seem like the one thing that doesn’t cause harm to a kitchen sink, but that’s exactly what makes it such a threat,” Mr Rooter Plumbing explains in a blog post, outlining the main culprits. “While most of us know not to throw poultry skin and bones into the garbage disposal, grease is another matter. If poured into a kitchen sink drain, the drippings from your turkey can re-solidify into fats that coat your drain and lead to serious clogs.”
As well as oils being poured down drains, they warn about potato prep.
“The starchy nature of potato skins causes them to turn clumpy when ground up, and that clump of potato is perfectly suited to stopping up your sink.”
But overall, the increase comes from people simply using their facilities more than usual, maybe with a little extra pooping involved after overconsumption.
“People are just using everything more,” Angie Hicks, co-founder of service-finder Angi, told USA TODAY. “Maybe they’ll use one bathroom in their house typically, and they’re using two or three when the whole family shows up, or they’ve just got so much cooking going on that they are overdoing it in the kitchen and that can result in problems.”
So enjoy Thanksgiving, but try to avoid putting unnecessary strain on your plumbing system, or you’ll end up in next year’s stats.
