Once every year or so, my kitchen sink clogs because I decided to peel 3 potatoes at once before hitting the garbage disposal ON button. This results in my having to call someone who was once my friendly plumber to come over and quickly run a snake through the clogged potato skins (which seem to gather together like glue).
Well, the plumber has decided he can’t handle this type of clog for two-three weeks, and I can’t handle hand-washing dishes in the bathtub for two-three weeks. Isn’t there something else I can do? (For those of you who suggest I stop running potato peels through the disposal, I assure you I’ve already got that etched in the kitchen window.)
Three options:
Plunger
Snake
one of those liquid-plumber/drano products.
If you use a plunger, be warned: Your drain goes into the garbage disposal (obviously). Also, if you have a dishwasher, it will have an outlet into the garbage disposal as well. If this is the case, be sure to block that hose before plunging, or you’ll force sewage into your dishwasher.
Personally, I would go with a snake. It’s not that tough, and it’s a good thing to have around just in case. The only yucky thing is pulling it out and cleaning it afterward.
Oh, I should add that you won’t be able to put the snake through the garbage disposal. You’ll have to go through the other sink, or disconnect the bottom of the garbage disposal and go that way.
I’ve watched my no-longer-friendly plumber snake the other sink (forgot to mention I’ve got two kitchen sinks…one with a disposal and one without) on numerous occasions. It doesn’t seem like it’s that much of a big deal. Is there NO alternative to snaking the line, however?
I’m embarrassed to admit that when faced with the same problem earlier this year, my husband and I handled it very badly. We kept running the garbage disposal and dumping all sorts of Liquid Plumber and other chemicals into the water until finally we couldn’t even use the kitchen, let alone the sink, because of the fumes.
In the end, we called maintenance and a guy came over with a plunger. I stood there in disbelief thinking him a complete idiot as he happily plunged away for 15 minutes. Just as I was about to point out that this was a sink not a toilet, “WHOOOOOOOOSH”, the sink drained and he bid me farewell.
ARRRGGGH!!! A week with no sink and all I needed was a plunger!!!
Anyway, we have a garbage disposal and dishwasher and plunging didn’t cause any problems, so if we ever have a bad clog again, that will be my first solution.
If you do use Drano and it doesn’t work and the sink is still full of water, it’s a real drag to plunge, because you can spray the water everywhere and that Drano is bad stuff to get on you.
Thanks to all who responded. Guess I’ll get up Sunday morning, plunging and removing the trap thingie if the plunger doesn’t work. (Worst case scenario, I’ll get out the phone book and start calling one of about a thousand plumbers to see who’d come out on weekends…otherwise known as financing a vacation home.)
The Liquid Plumr and Drano type products can also wreak havoc if you have a septic tank and not a sewer. The chemicals do a job on the microbes that break down the sewage (sidebar: I’d hate to be one of those microbes…all they do is eat feces and die), and you get to have your septic tank pumped a lot more than you should need to.
Then again, I don’t have to pay a sewer bill, either…
Jeremy…
Nobody ever calls me after they’ve done something smart.
Mazey, I just wanted to second some of the advice. I’m not crazy about the caustic products that are on the market, which could hurt ** you ** before they ever begin to unplug your sink!
If you have the ringed plunger, it folds under, which is different from just the regular horned type, it seems to have better suction. Be sure to have some water in your sink too.
If you have to undo the elbow (I * just * had to do this in our bathroom to recover a contact of all things that had fallen down the drain!) Don’t forget to turn off both faucets under your sink, I forgot to turn off one and made a horrible mess first!
Good luck!!
Judy
“Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient
My darling wife has stopped up our kitchen sink on numerous occasions with potato peels and celery stalks; rice will do it, too. Our kitchen sink has two tubs, with a garbage disposal in one side and also with a drain hose that connects to the dishwasher. I have had some luck in clearing stoppages by filling both tubs with water (for the advantage of extra weight on the clog), turning on the disposal and using the little sink stopper as a plunger, forcing the water down through the disposal. This usually clears a small stoppage, but for the kind you have described, I think you will have to resort to more serious methods. A plumbers’s helper (full-sized plunger) will work as discussed by others, but don’t forget to put the stopper in the adjoining sink (the one with the disposal) and wrap a damp cloth around the vent from the dishwasher - this will ensure that most of the pressure you will exert on the standing water goes down the pipe that has the stoppage. There is another device on the market that you can use instead of a plunger - it is a ribbed rubber ‘tube’ that spurts water in pulses down the pipe and breaks up the stoppage. I have used one several times with good results. I strongly recommend against using any chemicals in kitchen sinks for several reasons, including the one already mentioned, but also for another, equally serious reason: most kitchen piping in houses built within the last twenty years or more is plastic piping; if chemicals are use to remove a stoppage, the plastic pipe can be weakened or damaged. It is no fun to cut holes in the downstairs ceiling to repair piping that has failed because of the use of chemicals in the kitchen sink upstairs - I know 'cause I’ve done it twice!
Forgot to mention this, but maybe you have already figured it out: if the sink tub drains are connected, and water empties from the one without the disposal, the stoppage is (of course) in the short piece of pipe between the two tubs. If water does not empty from either tub, then the stoppage is down-line from both tubs. I know this seems obvious, but sometimes when we become frustrated from working on a problem we can’t solve, even little things can be overlooked. Hope everything turns out okay for you. By the way, to use a snake (I got mine at Eagle Hardware for $12.95)[did I just violate some rule by making that statement? - sorry] you will have to remove that little metal crossbar thingie from the sink.
Mazey, you didn’t say if you have a double sink & which one it is if you do.
Take out the U thing on the bottom. Its pretty easy to do. You might even want to spend the $7 on a new plastic U joint cause they are easy to get off without a wrench, just use your hands. Actually its more like a J not a U
handy, it’s a double sink, with the disposal in the left one. I tried the plunger thing…no luck. I agree the best route is to remove the U-trap underneath, but my ex-plumber screwed it on so tightly, I can’t get it to budge. Looks like I’ll have to go out and purchase a wrench AND another U-trap (thanks for the suggestion).
<<<<<<Judy, thanks for the added advice.
P.S. (Do you KNOW me?) >>>>>>>>
(Appropriated bandwidth removed)
No, unfortunately, I don’t know * you, * I know ME, though, and when my mind is on getting something done, I end up leaving out some important ** little ** step, and get soaked for it!!
I think you can do this yourself, without the plumber, and the house call, * especially on the weekend! *
No, ralf, I read what you said, but I know this sink well…just wish I could’ve remembered this BEFORE I did the potato skin trick. My best bet for this sink is the U connection under the sink. That’s where all the peels always end up, and freeing and cleaning it, then re-connecting it will do the trick. As I said, if only I’d remembered…(sigh)