Brown Friday: What it is and why it’s a busy day for plumbers

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Brown Friday, a play on words for Black Friday, falls on the day after Thanksgiving.

It’s a term that has become all too familiar for local plumbers.

“It’s the time of the year when we have all of our families in town, and we clog up our plumbing systems, or our HVAC systems will end up breaking,” said Brett Callahan with Air Services and All Service Plumbing.

“The term Brown Friday, the first time I heard about it was probably a few years ago,” said Chad Farrell with Roto-Rooter Plumbing.

Local plumbers say the day after Thanksgiving is one of their busiest days of the year. That’s because many households experience drain and pipe clogs in their bathrooms and kitchen sinks during the holiday.

“Probably a 25% increase is what we’ll see,” said Callahan.

“If not one of the busiest days, it could be the busiest day actually,” said Farrell.

Plumbers say you should not throw flushable wipes in the toilets or pour grease, fat, and oils down the drain.

“Try to avoid putting a lot of food in the garbage disposal,” said Farrell. “Just things that don’t break up very easy.”

Farrell said to unclog some drains, he needs to use a machine called a branch line Roto-Rooter.

“It goes down the line, that spins and then it has a head on that cable,” said Farrell. “Once it gets to the blockage, it either pushes it out or it basically goes through the blockage.”

Local plumbers agree that you should use your garbage disposal as little as possible and stay away from those heavy drain cleaning products. They could cause more problems for you and your plumber.

“It actually can become a danger for the plumbers, because when they have to take that pipe apart, you can flash chemicals all over your plumbers and actually cause skin problems for the plumbers, from them getting those chemicals on them,” said Callahan.

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