Chapter Two, in which I rip the plumbing gods a new drain
My plumbing stars have not been aligned lately. Aside from the sink drain disaster I had to contend with over the weekend, I also had a toilet that kept running because the flap was getting stuck in the up position. (Not sure how to fix that; anyone have any ideas?) But worse was the bathroom sink that was completely clogged.
I knew the clog was in the wall, not in the trap. I had already taken off the trap and cleaned it, plus every time I ran the faucet I could hear the pipes filling up like a glass of water. Once it got to the point of filling the sink, it would take up to 10 minutes to drain again. This was a bad one.
Over the weekend I bit the bullet and invested in a drain auger, a fancy word for a pipe snake. Last night, in my zeal to conquer the curse of the plumbing gods, I opened up the drain where it goes into the wall and went at it.
It wasn't long before I hit the clog and started turning the handle on the auger. I pulled the snake back out and almost gagged at the disgustingness that was attached to the other end: A big clump of slimy gross hair and other random matter. (I think there was actually a piece of glass and a small cap to a makeup tube in there.)
Not to be fooled, I went back in for another round. This time, I hit paydirt. I pulled out one of the nastiest balls of slime I had ever encountered. But I took it like a trooper. My thinking is this: If you're going to have long hair, you'd better be prepared to deal with nauseating clumps of it every once in a while. Otherwise invest in a razor.
Please, click the above photo to enjoy a closer look at my still life of bathroom-drain-clog paraphernalia. You'll be happy to know the drain works beautifully now. Once again, I have fought the plumbing gods and emerged victorious!
Posted by Alex Bandon | Categories: Endless List of Projects | Permalink
(9) Comments
With the flapper, make sure the chain isn't catching on something and isn't twisted. Also make sure the flapper and the gasket it fits into at the bottom of the tank are clear of debris (you'll have to turn off the water and drain the tank for this)
Thanks Gene, but of course I checked all that first and none of those is the problem. As I noted above, the flapper just gets stuck in the up position. It doesn't always close itself back up when the water is finished draining. One fix is to flush gently so it doesn't get jerked all the way up, but it's almost like the pivot points need lubing. Not sure how one would go about doing that.
Two words: new flapper!
With most flapper assemblies, you can (carefully) remove the flapper itself. I don't know how you'd lubricate it, though. If you do end up replacing the flapper, my experience was that you should go ahead and replace the whole mechanism. A couple years ago when I went through this, I first replaced just the flapper, but it didn't fit quite as snuggly as the old one into the existing gasket, and so there was a slow, steady leak.
Ugh, that's what I was afraid of. Another toleration born. Thanks for the heads up, Gene.
Great stuffs.I wanted to know that how to select good plumber? While selecting what are all the things I should keep in my mind?
Sounds like a crapy situation call a plumber...
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Some really cool stuff here, dude. Congrats on a great article.