Society's continued push away from in-person communications in favor of digital forms has made the annual tradition of a family reunion even more special and anticipated.

Most often scheduled during the summer months when the weather is pleasant and school vacations make travel easiest, family reunions are filled with extended family members who willingly journey long distances in order to spend a day or a weekend catching up on family news, while feasting and retelling funny stories from their childhoods.

While certainly an honor to host the reunion, the family chosen to host the annual family reunion should also be aware that any gathering of that size can be stressful on their home's plumbing system. If you have been chosen to host your family's reunion gathering this year (or any other large event, such as a wedding or graduation party), these proactive tips can help protect your home's plumbing system and keep it working efficiently during this type of heavy usage.

Pre-Event Septic Pumping

Reunion hosts who have an on-site septic system to handle their waste disposal needs may want to consider a pre-reunion septic tank pump out. The scores of extra bathroom flushes, along with additional water usage for hand washing, cleaning, and guest showers can send several hundred gallons of wastewater and solids to the septic tank each day of the gathering.

Lowering the contents of the tank to a minimal level through pumping will help to reduce the chances of overfilling the tank and experiencing a backup of raw sewage into the home or problems associated with an overworked drain field.

Stocking (and Unstocking) the Bathroom

The way in which your home's bathroom plumbing is used can be a big factor in the development of plumbing problems, especially during a large gathering. When toilets are being used much more frequently than usual, the amount of toilet tissue and other paper products can quickly add up.

Homeowners can help to avoid plumbing problems due to excessive paper products by taking a few proactive measures, including:

• Changing out cushy, multi-layer toilet tissue for single ply products that bio-degrade much more quickly.
• Temporarily removing common bathroom supplies that could be mistakenly flushed down the toilet, such as cotton swabs and personal care wipes.
• Removing paper towels and instead supplying a generous supply of cloth hand towels and washcloths.

Displaying a carefully worded reminder to please place feminine hygiene products and non-flushable items into a conveniently placed trash can also help prevent clogged toilets.

Protection for Kitchen Drains

In addition to taking measures to protect the bathroom plumbing from usage issues, homeowners should also be prepared to protect their kitchen drains. Cooking for a crowd, especially over a period of several hours or a few days, can mean that grease, fats, and oily food waste may be accidentally rinsed down the kitchen drains while cooking or cleaning up after a meal.

Homeowners can protect their drains by providing easily visible grease and oil collection containers in the kitchen and food prep areas and asking attendees to use them.

Any glass, plastic, or metal container with a tight-fitting lid can serve as a grease collection container. Keeping one close to the sink and stove will make it easy to collect cooled grease, oily liquids, and other forms of fat while cooking. Once the containers are filled, they can be tightly capped, then placed into a spill-proof bag and tossed into the garbage.

Accidental misuse or unexpected plumbing emergencies can still happen, even when homeowners have taken extra precautions to protect their home's plumbing system.

Instead of allowing plumbing problems to interrupt your special family gathering, we invite you to contact Complete Plumbingand schedule one of our licensed, experienced plumbers to quickly resolve leaks, clogged toilets, slow drains, or any other problem that arises with your home's plumbing system.