Mrs. Rooter Blog

With the Thanksgiving holiday over, now is a great time to clean and deodorize your garbage disposal – and you’ll be glad to know it’s simple and inexpensive.  If you hosted a big Thanksgiving feast, your garbage disposal deserves some TLC.

You just need citrus peels and ice cubes – it’s that easy!  I like to use oranges because they just smell so clean and fresh, but you can use any citrus such as grapefruit, lemon or lime peels.

You’ll want to follow these steps to clean and deodorize your garbage disposal:

1. Place a large bowlful of ice cubes as well as about a cup of citrus peels – oranges, lemons or limes – in the disposal.

2. Turn on cold water and then the disposal for 30 to 45 seconds.

3. Then turn off the disposal and continue to rinse with hot water for 15 more seconds.

I hope you’ll be delighted with the clean, fresh smell. Here’s wishing you a world class day.

A few days ago I started giving you some tips on keeping your plumbing in top shape during the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup. With a house full of people celebrating the game, things like plumbing can sometimes get overlooked.

Here are a few precautionary steps that may help you in the long run:

• Throw scraps in the trash.
• Turn on the water, then turn on the disposal and feed the waste gradually.
• Don’t overload the dishwasher.
• If the kitchen sink is backing up, call a qualified plumber.

No matter which team wins the Cup in Calgary, I hope this advice will help you avoid any costly plumbing repairs during your celebration.

Enjoy the party!

With the Canadian Football League’s 97^th Grey Cup right around the corner, all the celebrating can lead to problems with your plumbing.  If you aren’t lucky enough to make it to Calgary to see the big game in person, you may be considering a Grey Cup party. A house full of football fans and food can turn into a disaster if you don’t prepare.

With everyone focusing on the game, you may not realize there are plumbing troubles until it’s too late. Here are some ideas to best prepare your kitchen and bathroom for a house full of guests.

To keep potential plumbing problems from ruining your party plans, here are some tips on for game day:

• Don’t overstuff your garbage disposal.
• Stock the bathroom with single-ply toilet paper.
• Rinse all the dishes before loading the dishwasher.
• Remove small objects from the top of the toilet tank that could fall in, causing it to clog.
• Know how to use the water shut-off valve under the tank.

Check back in a few days, and I will share more tips on how to keep things running smoothly on game day.

Here’s wishing you a world class day.

Anything you can think of, our Mr. Rooter plumbers have probably pulled out of a drain – this is especially true during the Thanksgiving holiday. Year in and year out, we receive calls from frantic customers, saying their drains are backed up and they can’t use their kitchen sinks.

I thought this Thanksgiving season it would be appropriate to share with you some stories where our customers were thankful Mr. Rooter Plumbing saved the day.

One year, one of our Mr. Rooter plumbers walked into a home on Thanksgiving Day with dozens of dishes piled on the counter, and detached parts from the pipes under the sink placed on newspaper.  (I can’t imagine having all those dishes to wash and no sink to use for that big job.) After our plumber unclogged the line, the family said he was a knight in shining armor.

Another story involves 20 pounds of potato peels (Wow – that’s a lot of potatoes!) that clogged more than 30 feet of pipe.  It took our Mr. Rooter plumber hours and numerous tries to unclog that very stopped up line.

We’ve also rescued many a super hero.  You’d be surprised how many Superman and Spiderman action figures children flush down the toilet. Walking away a hero from service calls on Thanksgiving is an annual event for many of our Mr. Rooter plumbers.

In my last two blog postings, I shared some tips to help keep your drains running as they should.  I hope your Thanksgiving will be a time of family, gratitude, good food, and some fun in the process.  But if you happen to have plumbing problems remember our Mr. Rooter service professionals are available.  We’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week – including holidays – and we don’t charge overtime.

Here’s wishing you a most Happy Thanksgiving.

Sir Winston Churchill once said “Gratitude is the parent of all virtues.” This Thanksgiving holiday I hope you find time to spend with your family and friends, counting the blessings they bring into your life.  And to make sure you spend time counting your blessings instead of experiencing plumbing problems brought on by the overuse of your kitchen plumbing allow me to share some kitchen plumbing tips with you.  

If you’re wondering why – it’s because our plumbers stay very busy unclogging drains and repairing garbage disposals during the holidays. This is especially true on Thanksgiving Day and the day after, so I thought a little prevention might help you get through the holidays without those plumbing troubles.

In my last posting, I shared with you the foods you should and should not put down the drain and your garbage disposal.  Today, I want you to know the dos and don’ts for your garbage disposal.  

When you use the garbage disposal I recommend you:

- Turn the water on first

- Then, turn on the disposal

- Feed the waste gradually

- Keep the disposal on for at least 30 seconds with water running once it is clear of food (this allows the starches and fibers from the food to go down the line)

- Leave the water on for a short period of time after the disposal is turned off.

If your drain clogs, you can turn the garbage disposal power off, and press the re-set button under the sink (if it is available).  And keep in mind you should avoid operating the dishwasher if there’s a problem with your disposal.  This is because the dishwasher discharges into the disposal.

And after the Thanksgiving holiday is over, I’ll give you some tips to give your garbage disposal a fresh and clean smell. 

On behalf of everyone at Mr. Rooter, I wish you and your family a happy and safe Thanksgiving.  And as we count our blessings we thank our franchisees and customers who make all things possible for us at Mr. Rooter Plumbing. 

When I host holiday dinners, it surprises me how often the garbage disposal is used. Like many of you, the holidays are busy in my home – especially my kitchen. One year our son thought it would be fun to see how much he could put down the disposal when cleaning up after a big family meal.  Needless to say he (and I) learned the hard way just how much abuse our disposal could take. That is why I like to be aware of what we put down the drain – especially during the holidays.

Do you really know what should and should not be put down the drain? If you don’t know, you need to! Not knowing leads to plenty of clogged drains during he holidays. In fact, Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times of the year for our Mr. Rooter plumbers.

I recommend you follow these tips all the time, but especially during your Thanksgiving holiday. They will help prevent your kitchen sink from backing up.

- You should not put turkey bones, skin and potato and onion peels down the disposal

- Instead, throw your scraps in the trash or compost pile

- Wipe your greasy pans and plates with a paper towel before washing them

- You should avoid pouring grease down the drain

- Finally, be sure you don’t overload the garbage disposal.

In my next blog, I’ll explain how you properly operate a garbage disposal.

Here’s wishing you a world class Thanksgiving Day.

I remember when I got my first car I did not know much about maintaining it and in the first year I almost ruined my engine because I had not changed the oil like I should have.  A home is much the same way.  The better we maintain it the longer it will stay in good working order for us.

Slow leaks and neglecting the general maintenance of your home can result in problems not covered by insurance. Think of maintaining your home like you would your car. Each year you should have your furnace, boiler, hot water tank, sump pumps, and water pressure inspected and maintained by a professional.

Ask your local plumber to review the items below to help reduce future problems in your home:

• change the filter on the furnace
• clean the air ducts and vents for the furnace, tank, boiler and clothes dryer
• flush the water in the boiler and hot water tank
• have the burner assembly on your water heater or heat exchanger cleaned professionally annually
• clean pumps to remove dirt and debris
• check the water pressure to ensure it is at a safe level

Call your local Mr. Rooter® shop to see about a complimentary plumbing check-up that can ease your maintenance worries. Check out our web site today for some helpful home tips at www.mrrooter.com.

Have a world class day!

As we celebrate Veterans Day, I would like to take a moment to thank all military men and women for all they do for our country.  I am a former Marine, and this is a special day to me. Happy Birthday Marines.

Like I mentioned in my last blog, I am currently the vice chairwoman of the International Franchise Association’s VetFran Committee.  I enjoy serving on this committee because it helps fulfill the promise I made when I left the military to do my best to give back to our veterans.

Are you familiar with the VetFran Committee?  Please allow me to share a little about the VetFran Committee, which was created in 2007. All of our members are volunteers.  Chris Loudermilk, our Franchise System Specialist for Mr. Rooter Corporation, also serves on this committee. 

Here are some topics we focus on:

- We work on increasing the opportunities for our honorably discharged military veterans who are interested in owning a franchise.

- We work with military organizations to identify publications and venues where franchisors can alert veterans of their opportunities.

- We actively recruit additional companies and individuals to sponsor additional VetFran Scholarships.

For more information on VetFran Scholarships, go to http://www.franchise.org/uploadedFiles/Franchise_Industry/Resources/Education_Foundation/VETERANS%20SCHOLARSHIPS%202008.pdf.

Here’s wishing you a world class day.

As a former Marine, Veterans Day is very close to my heart. Having served eight years as a Marine Corps logistics officer, I had the honor to work with some exceptional men and women who helped protect our freedom and put duty to their country at the top of their priorities. 

So, after leaving the Marines Corps I promised myself I would do my best to give back to our veterans and service members in anyway I could.  At Mr. Rooter, we support veteran entrepreneurship. We offer two programs – VetFran and PAVE, as they are commonly known – to help veterans buy franchises.  Did you know that one out of every seven businesses in the U.S. is owned by a veteran?

Just like the military, franchising is built on systems. Having become accustomed to following systems in the military, veterans can use that experience to succeed in franchising. It certainly helped me when I was a new franchisee and business owner. Men and women with military backgrounds often make ideal franchisees.

Are you familiar with the VetFran program? The Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative or VetFran provides incentives and discounts for honorably discharged U.S. veterans to buy franchises. This program was founded by our late founder, Don Dwyer Sr., of The Dwyer Group, Inc., which is the parent company of Mr. Rooter. To date, there are more than 400 franchising companies participating in this program.

The Program for Assisting Veteran Entrepreneurship (PAVE) builds on VetFran. PAVE offers veterans and their families an opportunity to put the practical management skills they developed in the military to use in civilian life. PAVE is open to all veterans who have been honorably discharged.

The PAVE program offers veterans:

- A 25% discount on the purchase of an initial base franchise territory for Mr. Rooter or one of the other five franchise concepts of The Dwyer Group: Aire Serv^®, Glass Doctor^®, Mr. Appliance^®, Mr. Electric^® and Rainbow International^®.

- Partial company financing for qualified individuals.

- Future franchise resale opportunities.

- Additional discounts with The Dwyer Group preferred vendors.

If you want to learn more about the VetFran program, I recommend you visit http://www.franchise.org/FranchiseeSecondary.aspx?id=34386.

I am currently the vice chairwoman of the International Franchise Association’s VetFran Committee. On my next blog, I will share more about this organization.

Here’s wishing you a world class day.

Semper Fi.

If you’ve called a plumber to clear your drain line before, you’ll want to read this post. If you aren’t aware, trenchless technology in most cases can eliminate the constant need of clearing your drain lines because of your pipes deteriorating, root intrusion or other mechanical failures.

In my last post, I shared information with you about pipe relining. Today, I want to share another form of trenchless technology called pipe bursting. Just like pipe relining, pipe bursting fixes your sewer problem without creating an eyesore.

It’s a fascinating process. The Mr. Rooter service technician pulls a pipe of the same size through the defective pipe. As the pipe advances, it breaks the old pipe, and the new pipe replaces the old one. And get this – only two holes are dug, the entrance and exit points!

Stay tuned – I’ll talk more trenchless technology in the future. Here’s wishing you a world class day.