'Brown Friday': One of the busiest days of the year for plumbers

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Most people think of the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday, but have you ever heard of Brown Friday?

Well, it's the busiest day of the year, for plumbers.

Phones rang off the hook all day long at PDS Plumbing & Air in Clovis.

"It's always the day after Thanksgiving the day after big family gathering, we are starting to notice and increasing calls, sewer related," said Daniel Salazar with PDS Plumbing & Air.

Everything from clogged toilets to shower drains, but the most common issue by far is clogged kitchen sinks.

Garbage disposals put to the ultimate test on Turkey Day and failed.

"Families are either draining turkey skin or turkey fat down the line or gravy. We're seeing stuffing, you name it. It's going down the drain line," said Salazar.

According to Angie's List, plumbing issues, on average, spike almost 40% on the day after Thanksgiving.

For Daniel Salazar and PDS Plumbing & Air, it's 50%.

The veteran-owned company has crews working overtime, and into the weekend.

Already seeing double the call volume compared to last year with close to 60 calls before noon.

"That's what we tell all of our employees it's Brown Friday we have to get ready for it. It's a day that everyone wants to takeoff, but unfortunately, we can't give that Friday after Thanksgiving off," says Salazar.

We followed Daniel and his crew to a house call to fix a pipe filled with grease.

They first tried using a traditional drain cleaner to get the job done, but it wasn't enough, so they had to bring out a giant hydro jet.

"At this point, the snake is no longer doing its job. It's bigger than what we expected, so he's going to use the hydro jet which is pressurizing the interior of the line," says Salazar.

For a simple fix, like using a snake to open the line, it's only about $99.

But a big job like this will now cost the customer about $1,200. You can avoid this by watching what goes down the drain.

Some of the main kitchen clog culprits, potato skins, grease pasta and rice, turkey bones and skin, eggshells, and fibrous veggies like celery.

Make sure you don't put these down the drain to avoid a post-Thanksgiving headache next year.

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