When Drano doesn’t work

How many times have you had a plugged-up drain? It happens all the time and we spend time and money believing in products that really don’t work. This is a quick snap shot of how you can quickly clear a drain trap under your bathroom sink.
A few things you might want is “Nose plugs” just kidding…but this job does Stink!
Rubber gloves, bucket and possibly a wide mouth pair of pliers.
The goal is to clear the U-shaped trap under the sink by removing the plumbing rings on the right and left side. First place a small bucket underneath the plumbing. Don on your rubber gloves and begin to take apart the plumbing. Remember you turn left to loosen and right to tighten.

Lefty Loosie and Righty Tightie!

Once you have removed the trap dump contents into the bucket. Leave the trap off and run water down through the pipe. If you have a strong stream flowing into the bucket your problem has been solved and you can put your U-shaped trap back on fitting the trap onto the tailpipe of the sink first.
If you don’t have a very good stream that is an indication that most likely there is more debris to clear underneath the stopper in your sink. If you have a pop stopper you only need to unscrew it and clear the debris out with a fork. I like to use a shish kabob skewer I can throw out. Either works.
If you have a pull up push down dip stick on the back of your faucet you will need to remove the washer on the back of the sink tailpipe and pull the rod and ball out in-order to release the stopper. See picture.
Clear debris and then be careful to drop the stopper back in so that the rod inserts itself into the hole at the bottom of the stopper. Check to see if it moves up and down before you tighten the nut back on. If not done properly the stopper will not move upwards and downwards.

One response to “When Drano doesn’t work

  1. Thanks mischele, running clear right now but this is certainly something to files away for a rainy day!!

    LikeLike

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