I’ve got a semi-clogged sink - water runs out, but slowly, and tends to back up when I run the garberator in the sink beside it.
I’ve tried snaking it, without success, so now I’m trying to open the cap on the underside of the trap, to see if I can unclog it that way.
Problem is, the cap is stuck, and I can’t remember which way to turn it to loosen it. Normally, you turn counter-clockwise to loosen, right? but this is upside down - so do I turn it clockwise?
back to snaking, while I wait for responses - I’m going in!!
It’s counterclockwise from the perspective of the nut or bolt going on or in.
IME with the same problem some years back, what works right-side-up also works upside down: righty-tighty, lefty-loosy.
As you lie on your back and look up at the cap, turn it to the left (counter-clockwise). Or, if you’d prefer to look down at it from above, you’ll be turning to the right (clockwise).
Not sure if I’m being clear, but I hope I am.
It should be standard threading, ie counterclockwise like you and others have said. Generally in plumbing, reverse threading is only used for flammable gas piping, like natural gas and propane.
If all the parts involved are metal (they’re plastic in my place) you can heat it with a propane torch, which is a pretty reliable way to break a stuck bolt free. Don’t use an oxy-acetylene torch, it can get too hot.
You could also try impact. Use a straight wrench, not an adjustable wrench or ratchet handle and socket. Tap the wrench repeatedly with a hammer in the appropriate direction.
ETA: Or if you just need some more “oomph” you can try and see if extra leverage helps. Fit a piece of pipe over the end of the wrench to increase the length of the handle.
bugger it, it’s on tight!
thanks for the suggestions - I’ve tried going counter-clockwise, but nothing’s happened. I’ll try tapping it gently with a hammer, to see if that can loosen anything.
problem is, I don’t have a wrench that fits - just a crescent wrench that doesn’t open wide enough, so I’m trying by hand, which has always worked on this particular trap before.
I may have to go off to HomeHardware. Fortunately, it’s still draining, just slowly. The snake seems to have opened up enough of a passage to keep things moving.
I’ve always found that righty-tighty thing confusing - you’re turning one side of it rightwards, but the other side leftwards, depending on which way you’re looking at it. But then, I find right and left confusing at the best of times.
Before investing a lot of money in having a tech come out to your house, or investing a lot of time opening your pipes, or potentially investing in hospital bills if hot water should spray in your face, buy a quart of drano (or equivalent generic drain-declogging product) and give that a go.
If you already tried drano, then by all means go for the extremes 
Just a good plunger always worked for me in the kitchen slow drain. But you can’t plunge after you’ve used chemicals.
Keep in mind that if the drano doesn’t work, it is now in the trap, and that’s what will be spilling/splashing if you do get the trap off later.
It sounds like you are just trying to remove a clean-out plug. If its got enough surface area you could twist a cloth around it really tight, and it might budge. Since the water runs out slowly, its a good target for drano. Wait until its fully drained, add the Drano, and wait again until its empty. There are things draino won’t dissolve though, like plastic or metal. You can try using a plunger on it. Sometimes that breaks up the clog enough to rinse it out, or dissolve it. But if its a plastic bag in there, you might just drive it further down the drain and make it harder to get out.
You might as well try to get the whole trap out anyway. The nuts holding the trap may be easier to turn than the clean out.
Good luck
Opening a drain pipe should not cause a trip to the hospital, that is unless you some type of chemical in it.
and If it sits in a metal drain line it can eat it’s way through. I had to replace my upstairs bathroom drain because acid ate a 2" x 8" hole. That was fun. There are no longer such products in my house. Banned they are.
Plunger doesn’t work in this situation, because of the garbarator in the other sink - plunging in the plugged sink just causes backup into the garbarator and the other sink.
Usually, opening the trap is simple - I just unscrew it, use the snake to get the clog out, and we’re good. Chemicals like Drano I’m not fond of, for the reason Magiver gives - they’re hard on the pipes.
I’ve got a rubber gripper that I normally use - it’s starting to tear from my efforts on the drain cap, so I don’t think a cloth would work. A wrench is indicated, I think.
I have no idea which way to turn the cap but just to pass on our recent experience with a clogged kitchen drain…take a picture of what all the pipes look like before you take them apart. Between the drain, the garberator and the dishwasher, the pipes were like spagetti and hubby couldn’t remember how it all went back together. Although, truth be told, he didn’t try very hard before calling the plumber.
Also found out that garberator pipes do not like egg shells. Don’t know why I never knew that!
That’s counter-clockwise, as viewed looking up at the drain from underneath, right?
Because as viewed from above, you should be turning the drain cap clockwise to loosen.
Basically, you want to turn whatever is closest to you ‘lefty-loosey, righty-tighty’. So from above, you’re trying to turn the pipe to the left (counter-clockwise). Of course you can’t do that without ripping the pipe free, so instead you turn the drain cap the other way, clockwise. Again that’s from above. From below, it’s easier: turn the drain cap to the left (counter-clockwise).
well, bought a wrench, finally got the cap off. gusher of dirty water came out - more than I’d anticipated, so the bowl I was holding overflowed.
when I recovered consciousness…
looks like the problem was tea bags - the water was full of fine tea bits - probably the garburator couldn’t really handle it, just broke up the tea bags, and the freed tea just hovered in suspension in the trap. that would also explain why the snake didn’t help, even though it went through the clog in the trap - the tea bits were too fine a substance to be pushed out by the snake, and likely just filled in again when the snake came out.
however, it’s still not draining properly - better than it was, but whenever I use the garburator, there’s water backing up into the other sink, briefly. I’ll take the cap off again tonight and see what’s up. If that doesn’t do it, looks like a plumber is indicated.
I know my limits! removing the release cap from the trap is about the maximum!
but yes, I’ve clogged the garberator before with egg shells. There are some things that don’t do well when put down the garberator by themselves - egg shells are one (too gritty) and I’ve found that potato and carrot peelings don’t grind up well on their own - best to make sure there’s some thing else in the mix.
Forget all the lefty-loosey righty-tighty stuff. Look at your right hand. Not left, right. Sit on your left hand if needed to make sure you’re looking at your right. Stick the thumb up, and curl the fingers a bit. Now pretend the fingers are arrows, with the tips of the arrows matching the tips of your fingers. If you turn the object in the direction of your fingers, it will move in the direction your thumb is pointing. The cool thing about this is you can take your right hand and put it right next to the thing you want to move, (remembering to keep that sinister left hand out of sight), point the thumb in the direction you want the thing to go (in your case, downwards), and your fingers will tell you which way to turn.
See here for a nifty picture. About the only time you’ll see left handed threads are on a left bicycle pedal and a cold water faucet.
Newer garbage disposals grind things up much more finely, but you still have to observer some basic principals. Starcehs will tend to clump together no matter how fine you grind them. witenss a cup of rice soaked in water. It will turn into a solid mass if you don’t wash it all the way down.
One method I use to clean the disposal and pipes is to put enough ice into the disposal to fill it up to the top of the opening (not the top of the sink, the top of the drain opening). then I turn on the cold water and turn on the disposal and let it run until it the water level completely clears out. The icewater slurry being forced through the pipes really scours them clean, and I get better performance out of the system. It does tend to back up into the sink a bit at first, though…just keep it running and it will eventually clear out after a minute or two. Longer than a minute or two and you have more serious problems.
But I use my left hand for this sort of thing! I’m right-handed for some stuff, left-handed for other stuff, so it doesn’t help to stop me from using my left. I think that’s why I get confused by left and right generally, and prefer instructions like “clockwise” / “anti-clockwise” and “driver side” / “passenger side”. (Mrs Piper used to be very frustrated giving me driving directions, because she would use “left” and “right”, and I’d sail through the intersection while I was trying to work out which direction she wanted me to go. Now she says “driver side” / “passenger side” or “your side” / “my side” and we’re hunky-dory.)
In a previous thread, a poster suggested I was cross-dominant (also called “hand confusion”), and those terms really do describe it.