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When it comes to clogged drains the day after Thanksgiving — which is also known as “Brown Friday” — there are 20 cities across the U.S. that end up in stinky situations more often than the rest.
That’s according to research by Yelp’s trend expert Tara Lewis.
“Yelp’s data revealed that during the 2023 Brown Friday time period, nationwide searches for ’emergency plumbing’ surged 65% compared to the two weeks before Thanksgiving, based on searches on Thanksgiving Day and the two weeks after,” Lewis noted in a recently published blog.
Lewis said she analyzed “millions of data points” on Yelp for plumbing-related searches such as “clogged toilets” and “drains,” with Los Angeles topping the list.
“The city saw a 73% increase in plumbing searches during the Brown Friday time frame, significantly outpacing any other city on the list,” Lewis wrote. “Searches rose sharply in Los Angeles, particularly for services like ‘plumbing repair’ (up 400%), ‘affordable plumbing’ (up 300%), ‘drain cleaning services’ (up 175%), and ’emergency plumbing’ (up 100%).
The other top five cities included Miami, Nashville, Sacramento, and Baltimore.
The following is the full list:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- Nashville, TN
- Sacramento, CA
- Baltimore, MD
- Las Vegas, NV
- Minneapolis, MN
- Providence, RI
- San Francisoc, CA
- San Diego, CA
- San Jose, CA
- Charlotte, NC
- Phoenix, AZ
- Riverside, CA
- Boston, MA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Orlando, Florida
- Houston, TX
- Philadelphia, OA
- St. Louis, MO
While the day after Thanksgiving is widely known as “Black Friday” for retailers and shoppers across the U.S., but plumbers said they refer to it as “Brown Friday” because they encounter an influx of sewage and dirty sink water.
Roto-Rooter, which is a nationwide plumbing company, said it’s the busiest day of the year for them, with incoming calls increasing 50 percent above the average Friday.
The company said their plumbers see many kitchen sink clogs or jammed garbage disposals, main sewer clogs, and toilet clogs, during Turkey Day weekend.
Often, the case is that a house already has partially clogged drains that go unnoticed, until holiday guests arrive and overwhelm the system,” Paul Abrams, who is the spokesman for Roto-Rooter, noted on the company’s website. “Even more problematic is that virtually every traditional Thanksgiving dish is a drain clogging culprit.”
Turkey grease, as well as pasta and rice, are at the top of the list.
Hot drippings may be in liquid form when poured down the drain but the liquid will solidify like candle wax once it cools down inside the pipes,” the website noted. “Rice and pasta swell when introduced to water. Worse, they’ll break down into a starchy gel and clog the pipes. Toss in some poultry skin, dressing, vegetable peels and a bone or two and you’ve got a sewer or drain clog of monumental proportions.”
Plus, many guests likely means more people are using sinks, toilets, showers, and bathtubs. Guests who stay overnight might also need to do laundry.
“This extra strain on the plumbing system is like the proverbial last straw that breaks a camel’s back,” according to the website. “Chances are that the house already had a partially clogged drain or two but the problem was not altogether noticeable yet. However, once a few more guests show up, the drains become overwhelmed.”
Roto-Rooter offered the following tips to help keep clogs at a minimum:
- Never pour fats or cooking oils down drains. Wipe grease from pots with paper towels and throw in trash.
- Avoid putting stringy, fibrous or starchy waste in the garbage disposal. Poultry skins, celery, fruit and potato peels, for example, cannot be sufficiently broken down.
- Make sure the disposal is running when you put food into it. Don’t wait until it’s full to turn it on.
- For homes hosting weekend guests, it’s a good idea to wait 10 minutes between showers so slow drains have time to do their job.
- Never flush cotton balls, swabs, hair or wet wipes down a toilet. They don’t dissolve and will cause clogs. Place a waste basket in the bathroom so these items won’t be flushed.
“Try to address any plumbing problems before the holiday and before guests arrive,” the company noted. “However, in the case of holiday plumbing emergencies, don’t hesitate to ask a plumber, up front, about extra holiday service fees.”
