I love plumbing – it’s a combination of magic, logic and physics.
From the way a toilet flushes, to how water always drains to the lowest point to the many ways pipes can be joined – it is fascinating and wondrous.
My latest plumbing escapade involved my kitchen sink.
The right side of my double sink is used to hold a dish drainer. This is my dry sink.
The left side has a garbage disposal and is the sink I use to wash dishes, run water, refill pitchers etc.
Recently in the “dry” sink, I noticed flakes of black sludge which I thought was mold or possibly crud falling off of my drying dishes. I may not be the most meticulous dish washer, but I was a bit surprised that I had to clean out the sink a few times each week under my “clean” dishes.
Then last week, I inadvertently discovered the source of these flakes. When I ran the disposal after doing my dinner dishes I saw black crud come shooting up out of the dry drain!
Hmm.
Googling suggested I had a blocked trap underneath the sink. Remedies included:
- Plunge both side of the drain.
- Pour vinegar and baking soda down both drains.
- Remove the trap and clean it out.
I have never removed a sink trap so I tried the first two methods. It seemed a little better. But since I had watched several videos on how to remove and clean the trap, I decided to give this a shot. If there was a clog, that seemed the best way to clear it.
I won’t get into the how to steps. You can look up how to clean a sink trap on YouTube if you need help.
I made one big mistake – I did not take a picture of the plumbing under the sink before I began. I recommend taking a picture before dissembling anything. Unfortunately, I don’t always follow my own advice.
I was planning to only remove the U trap, clean it out and reattach it. One pipe, 2 connections. “Who needs a picture?”, I thought.
When I removed the trap, I was shocked that the inside diameter of the 1.5” pipe was blocked so much that only a pencil sized hole was open.
The gunk that blocked the pipe was a whitish grease mass that was the consistency of cold butter mixed with semi-congealed candle wax. I cleaned this out with a screwdriver, an old toothbrush and my hose. Then I decided I should check the other pipes. They were also clogged up with sludge so I removed and cleaned them too.
Easy peasy. This entire process took about 10 minutes.
Putting this Rube Goldberg system back together was a different matter entirely. Even though it was only 4 sections of pipe, I couldn’t remember exactly how it went together. I tried a bunch of different configurations with no success.
Finally, I pulled out my Black and Decker Home Repair book and looked at sink plumbing diagrams. This gave me enough guidance that I was able to figure it out.
Total cost – $0
Total time – 30 minutes online prep watching videos and reading, 1 hour actual work time
Total Satisfaction – 1000% (plus another boost to my already huge home repair ego)
No plumber needed
No more black crap exploding out of the drain
Water drains really fast
No leaks
Feel free to refer to me as the David Copperfield of plumbing repair