This is going to be a fun article to write, and I wish I could get some feedback from all of you because I think it would be amazing to hear all the stories. My question for you is, has your experience as a plumber made you jaded in your everyday life?

I’ll start out by giving you a couple of examples from my personal experience. 

The first one I can think of has actually affected my whole family. It has to do with public ice makers, whether it is at a fast food restaurant, hotel or any establishment that offers self-serve fountain drinks. After several conversations about the bacteria that can be consumed this way, they no longer put ice in their drinks. Since ice is a consumable product and needs a drain, we need to be careful with our installations. 

We definitely don’t want to directly connect the ice maker to our sanitary drain system, but it doesn’t just stop with an indirect connection of an air-break or air-gap. When we need an indirect waste connection, the manufacturer of the ice maker has complete control of the size and material for only the first 30 inches, then our code dictates the rest. The code for indirect waste longer than 30 inches says that it must be an approved material, typically PVC, trapped and have a size of no less than 1 1/4 inch. Ice makers do have an exception to that code; the indirect waste can’t exceed 30 inches. 

This is because we don’t want it trapped, a perfect spot for bacteria and scum to collect and contaminate the ice in the ice compartment. This is a subject that causes some confusion for plumbers when they do the installation. I’ve seen it installed incorrectly more times than I’ve seen it installed correctly. Knowing this, what I do when I’m at a restaurant is open the cabinet door and look to see exactly how the indirect waste is installed before I get ice, and if I can’t see it, I then always pass on ice. 

It makes me chuckle a little bit when I’m writing this because I’ve told my wife and kids not to take ice either unless I do, and now when they are with their friends and see them taking ice, they stop them and tell them to dump out their cup. 

TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE

The next item on my list is the garbage disposal, or food waste grinder. Whatever you may call it, I really dislike both of those names. It gives the public this misconception that you can or should put food or garbage down the drain. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to clean out a kitchen drain and here I am pulling out ground-up carrot peels. 

I know this kind of job can be very lucrative and is how I pay my bills, but I always do tell my customers when I’m done that your sink is not a garbage can and it’s not designed for them to grind up food to put down their sink. All food should be placed into the garbage can instead. I may even be a little more vocal if I’m helping clean my family’s drains. I really don’t want to come back to their house at a discounted family rate. They should know better by now. 

If it’s not bad enough to have all kinds of ground-up food clogging up the drain that you must deal with, there are those times when you get hit with that unbelievable smell of grease from cooking or food. Wow, that smell can really knock you back if you’re not expecting it. It’s definitely the worst drain to try to open, especially in restaurants. 

The last time I had to replace a drain that was filled with grease it smelled so bad when I was done doing the work I literally threw away all my clothes in their dumpster when I left and drove home in my underwear and boots. This was certainly the first in my career. 

AWARE OF THE SURROUNDINGS

Being back in the kitchen area of a restaurant has its perks and disadvantages. I really enjoy eating out at restaurants on the weekend, but because of my job, there have been a couple restaurants that I will no longer visit due to me being able to see firsthand how they maintain their kitchen area. In my experience, this is few and far between as most restaurants do a great job keeping their kitchen well maintained. 

I recently went to a local mom-and-pop coffee shop. It was an old, remodeled engine shop. All the new plumbing for the coffee shop was surface mounted to the wall in plain sight of the front counter. So naturally for me, I was staring at the plumbing while I was waiting for them to complete my order. 

My wife glances over at me and says, “Is it all up to code”? She knows me all too well. I knew the plumber who installed it, so I had to text them on how well they did. 

I could go on and on for all the unique things that I do now just because I’m a plumber and I know the ins-and-outs of pretty much everything that involves water or a drain. I ask you to think about all the things that you are doing that you would probably never even think about if another career had chosen you.  

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Ken Dickerson teaches plumbing apprenticeship at Waukesha County Technical College. He is the 2022 Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin Instructor of the Year, a U.S. Air Force veteran and proud husband and father of two. To reach Ken, email editor@plumbermag.com.