[QUOTE=kumainu,Oct 29 2006, 05:24 PM] My sink is clogged and after pouring two bottles of Draino into it, it's still not unclogged.

 

Thanks! I'll also look into this. A draino with a skull picture, huh? Sounds dangerous.

 

snakes can maneuver themselves into many a dark holes

 

For the love of god!

Stop using draino.

Get a damn snake and wear some safety goggles when your doing it, all that draino is going to end up splattering you in the face now.

Draino is for lazy people.

You don't even need a snake a good strong thick coat hanger might work as well.

If you have to take the sink apart you must have poured concrete down there!

oh yeah stop shoving ham sandwiches down your drain =)

 

The "P" trap under the sink should come off easily. It is held together with a couple of compression nuts that have a rubber ring in them. Put a bucket under it to catch the mess and take it apart. Pull the sponge you lost out of the "P" trap and put it back together. Be careful about splashing that Draino on yourself and anything nearby. If you break the nuts or "P" trap when you take it apart just go the local Home Depot or Lowes and buy new parts. They are cheap.

 

You think?

I'll try the snake today.

 

You need to take apart the drain BEFORE you use the draino or other product in order to not have the acid pour out on you. Those should be the LAST option not the first. If it hasn't already worked pouring more down the drain isn't going to help matters anymore.

Your dishwasher outlet should be hooked into the disposal, because the dishwasher can pump out debris from the dishes. Pasta makes a clog that needs to be broken with a snake, it becomes a massive piece of material when it has a chance to set up. Other debris that is hard to get rid of is fibrous stuff like celery, carrots and those types of vegetables.

My experience with this is that I was the Director of Maintenance and Engineering (15years) at several hotels with restaurants (where most of the problems with drains occured ).

 

See the snake will grab hold of the crap clogging your sink. It'll even break up some organic material so that it'll either flush out or let enough water flow by that you won't know that you didn't get it all until it clogs again, so do it a few times even if the water gets by the clog.

It's really easy to do (once you get it past the built in strainer).

If done thoughly it'll guarantee a proper operation, unlike draino which will usually just burn a hole in the material. However if it is a broken up sponge or concrete, you'll have some pipes to take apart, this isn't a fun operation and you'll need some plumbers tape etc to get it back together without risking a leak.

Good luck, I'll bet it takes you an hour or so to get that snake working right and then the next time <15 minutes. You might as well do the bathroom drains that any woman uses and the bathtub drain to boot. You'll usually find some nasty stinky clumps of woman hair there! For that I usually use a coat hanger. Quicker, easier and I don't have to go digging the snake out.


Good luck, let us know how it turned out and what the hell you had in there that two bottles of draino didn't work on.

 

look on the bright side... at least your sink doesn't look like this.



*stolen from halloween thread*

 

Thanks!

Tried the snake earlier. That thing was clunky and hard to use. It didn't work. I don't think it even got to the clog. I must've jammed the coil down so hard that it BROKE a plastic pipe in two. Now I gotta buy a replacement pipe too. Then give it another shot tomorrow. It was hard for the coil to snake through all the pipes. If it'll break through the clog tomorrow, I'll still use a "draino with a skull on the bottle" to completely dissolve the clog.

Thanks for all the suggestions!