There comes a time in every person’s life when they have to swallow their pride (and disgust) and tackle a nasty clog in the sink. I’ve lived in apartments all my life, and I was always able to call the maintenance person or a plumber to deal with sink malfunctions. Now that I’m a homeowner, the golden pipe wrench has been passed to me.
Sigh.
Last week, we made some great Thai food… I made pad thai, and Claire made green papaya salad. Claire tried her usual trick of running the squeezed limes through the garbage disposal (it helps get rid of odors and makes the kitchen smell nice). This time, the limes overwhelmed the garbage disposal and lodged themselves somewhere in our pipes. Water started backing up in the sink.
Thankfully, all of the plumbing in our house has been updated, and the galvanized pipe under our sink has been replaced with PVC. God bless PVC. I grabbed a bucket and started taking the little pieces of pipe apart to hopefully find and defeat the clog. I was betting the clog was lodged in the little elbow under the sink.
I bet wrong.
I got all of the pieces apart, and other than being covered in a little bit of slime and some ground up pad thai noodles, the pipes under the sink were free and clear of debris. This meant the clog was further down the line. It took me a while, but I finally figured out how to put the PVC puzzle pieces back together. Of course I managed to spill water (and Thai food debris) all over the kitchen floor in the process.
We actually had some drain cleaner under the sink from our previous apartment. I don’t exactly like the stuff, but I was desperate, so I gritted my teeth and poured some down the sink and waited.
Of course, nothing happened…or not much, anyway. The drain cleaner seemed to open things up a little bit, so that at least the water would drain out of the sink, but it would back up when I turned the faucet on again. I tried running the disposal over and over, but it never seemed to dislodge the clog. It was late, and we decided to let the dishes sit in the dishwasher and take a trip to the hardware store in the morning.
At the hardware store, I spent $6 on a “snake” for our plumbing. I had seen other people use a snake for drains…in fact, plumbers always make the things look faintly like sorcery. The hardware store offered all sorts of different varieties, including ones that hook up to a drill, but the friendly hardware store guy told me they all do basically function the same way.
Basically, you’re supposed to feed the snake into your pipe until you find the clog, then rotate the thing until it powers through it, dislodging whatever goo is blocking the water. By now, you all know that I love gadgets, so I was fairly bursting with excitement to roll up my sleeves and defeat the evil clog when I got home.
I unscrewed the PVC puzzle under the sink again and got out the snake. I started feeding the thing into the drain pipe, and it was definitely not as magic or easy as the plumbers had made it look in the past. I pushed and cajoled the thing past bends and twists in the pipe, but I was only able to feed in a couple of feet of the snake. I twisted the snake just like the instructions said, and brought out a whole load of disgusting pipe goo. I prayed that I had gotten the clog and reassembled the PVC pipes.
I ran the sink. Nothing.
The clog was as strong as ever, so I tried again. And again. All in all, I tried the snake three or four times, scraping my knuckles and deforming the snake as I tried to force it down the pipes, each time reaching a bit farther and dislodging a bit more goo. Still, the clog wasn’t going anywhere.
At this point, I was getting desperate to try anything. I could take apart and reassemble the PVC pieces under the sink blindfolded like a Marine with his rifle.
I was ready to make another trip to the hardware store so I could try the crazy CO2 blaster that uses pressure to dislodge clogs. I decided to try my own version. We don’t have a plunger yet (I know, I know), so I covered one side of our double sink with a drain plug and tried creating some pressure in the pipe as I ran the disposal. I was actually able to use the drain plug to get some decent pressure on the pipe.
All of a sudden, the clog dislodged, sending water spraying out of the sink in the process. Victory.
I still don’t really know what I did, but the clog had been defeated. I could walk into my own kitchen with my head held high. I learned a little bit more about plumbing, but more about the necessary ingredients for prevailing in a plumbing emergency… tenacity and dumb luck.
Something to try instead of drain cleaners is a vinegar and backing soda bomb. It’s easy on the environment, cheap, easy, and freshens as it goes. Pour backing soda into the drain, then pour about the same amount of vinegar. As soon as you pour the vinegar, it will start to foam and expand. Seal off the drain(s) and wait about 10 minutes for it to do it’s magic. Then test it out.
Love the blow-by-blow of home ownership…
You can avoid a lot of the “knuckle busting” and get a lot more aggressive with Senor Clog by renting the small Rooter at Don’s Rent All (Broadway and Washington). It is basically the same type of Snake but it’s attached to a mounted, power screw driver that spins and feeds the snake like no hand ever could. I rent it about once a year when a “cold snap” hardens all the grease that has gone down our kitchen drain over the previous 11 months,,.
Thanks for the great post, nice site to! It makes be want to have a blog. What software do you need to get started? I hear a lot about this Wordpress?!
I am rubbish at virtually any plumbing related problems, just hope i had a little simple knowledge in order to save cash with local plumbers!
Me and also my buddy were arguing about an issue similar to this! Now I know that I was perfect. lol! Thanks for the information you post.
It is my opinion diferrent because my friends and family use another brand.It’s relaxed and i love it’s very much.But next drill driver Let me consider this to be drill driver stuffs that you present.Thank!!!