Mormon kitchen sink

Guess this is as good a day as any to mention my latest home repair, the kitchen sink.

Sunday, I was washing my dinner dishes, and the sink is draining very slowly. It's been doing that for about twenty years, not much is new. I happened to notice a bottle of drain crystals near the sink. Might as well put some in, help clear the grease and crud out.

I put in about a table spoon of drain crystals, and that didn't help much. Let that run till the water in the sink drained down.

Not to be discouraged, I decided to try the boiling water technique. I filled the tea kettle (or as I'm a Mormon, that's a hot chocolate kettle) and put it on the stove. A kettle of boilding water did no good, the drain is as slow as it ever was. Four kettles of boiling water also did no good.

Monday morning, I decided it was beyond tea kettle, and we're into drain snake. I got out my pistol grip (sorry, I got you all exctited, thinking I might own a gun; I do not) crank type snake, and pushed it in. I got every inch of the drain snake, probably 20 feet by 1/4 inch, and still the drain does not flow.

Noticing there is a clean out under the kitchen counter, went and bought a 40 feet long drain cleaner tape from Lowe's. Sadly, the snake only goes about a foot, and stops. (at an elbow, most likely).

I called on a friend of mine, we made plans to cut out the bad pipe, and replace it. His wife had the car, so I drove to pick him up. We pulled some trailer skirting, and looked at the pipe. The pipe is over the tar paper and insullation in the floor, and would be a lot of work to replace.

I cut the 1 1/2 black ABS pipe under the sink, and we tried to run a drain snake in from below. Also no joy.

Parts run to the store. Buy an expanding bladder tip for the garden hose. While there, buy a clean out, and a couple Fernco couplers.

My garden hose faucet didn't have enough flow to expand the bladder. Connect to a different faucet which had better water flow.

The improved water flow expanded the bladder, and pushed much of the grease and blockage down the line. There was a section of drain pipe below the trailer which was connected with Ferncos. Neighbor across the street had come along to help out. He noticed it was a poor job, and so he pulled the patch out.

Needed a cordless sawzall. The guy he knows who has one, gets out of work in an hour.

With an hour till the saw arrives, time for another parts run. Back to the parts store. Cut a length of tube to fit, and then we discover we need another Fercno coupler. Back to the store for a Fernco. Steve called on my cell phone, need an elbow also.

I bought two Ferncos, and two elbows. Figure that's cheaper than the gasoline to get to the store.

Back to the trailer. Steve had run his snake from the bad patch job, back to the end of the trailer. Steve declares the drain to be clear.

The job is not complete. I've got to reconnect the pipe sculpture under the sink, and mop up the mess where it got wet. The trailer smells like a clogged kitchen sink drain, and that needs to be cleaned.

Later this morning, I'll reconnect the pipe under the kitchen counter, and hope the drain is clear.

You can see why I've put this off for twenty years. Lot of work, and it's not complete yet.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon
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Nice, a story without a conclusion?

Reply to
bob_villa

Surprised to hear he had a tea kettle:

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Reply to
Frank

He did say something about hot chocolate...but doesn't that have caffeine in it?

Reply to
bob_villa

I've noticed it takes about an hour per year to do a job that needed doing to get it done? I gave up on my kitchen sink and just stuck the pipe out the wall, hooked some PVC elbows and runs of pipe and move it around the yard a bit when the mood hits me. Kitchen sink only. Yeah I know.... but it work and the tomato plants like it.

Reply to
Since You Axed

The pipe sculpture under the counter is not reconnected, so no conclusion yet.

It's also an oatmeal kettle.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

An hour a year.... I like that. And it sure sounds true.

When I moved in, the kitchen sink drain was not connected (about 20 feet back from the kitchen). I maybe ought left it unconnected. Would have worked a lot better.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I thought hot drinks were prohibited so that makes sense.

No coffee, no tea, no beer - I'll remain a Catholic - although I don't believe in global warming.

Reply to
Frank

If you removed blockage more often it would be less work. Drano (lye) works well on grease, organic crud too. The aluminum shavings in it just heat it up. However, it takes a while to dissolve stuff; in your case, quite a while I'd guess and several applications.

Reply to
dadiOH
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That's a good rule of thumb ! .. never heard it before - thanks. ie: you add an hour - for every year that you procrastinate ? .. doesn't quite seem enough for some jobs, though .. ? John T.

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Reply to
hubops

Hot drinks was later interpreted to be tea and coffee. Before anyone says caffeine, soda pop and Mountain Dew are personal choice. I just don't know why that is.

I heard on the radio that Pope Francis is visiting USA.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Time to write a drain crystal schedule, and keep up on things? What do you reccomend?

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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"9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly."

Doctrine and Covenants 89.9

Old Joe, like a lot of people in the prophet business, couldn't come out with a bullet list of what he was talking about, leaving others to fill in the blanks. I believe according the the Lord High Mukketymucks 'hot drinks' means tea and coffee, whether or not they're actually hot. Had Joe known about Monster he would have banned it too.

So cold Jolt is okay, hot Jolt maybe not so much.

Reply to
rbowman

Beer is a sacrament in the Catholic and Lutheran churches. William Jennings Bryan was doing okay until he trotted out the temperance thing in the very German midwest.

Reply to
rbowman

Now is the time to abandon your heresy and be saved.

Reply to
rbowman

No schedule, just whenever you notice slowing.

If your plumbing is standard size, you might want to be careful of what you are putting down it. Our standard size plumbing is 19 years old, nary a clog.

Reply to
dadiOH

Morning Stormin and all. Just how much did you spend on parts - excluding gas?

I use one of those hand pumps for unblocking shower and sinks. I don't know the generic name for these pumps but on ebay I searched drain buster etc

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It's important to get the type supplied with 2 sizes of suction heads (the ones between $13.40 - $13.49).

Method : fill sink, shower tray with one inch warm water (this helps to form a good seal). Pump firmly, maybe 5 - 10 times, until you feel the cold sludge water being sucked into the pump handle (the pump is plastic, you'll sense the cold water).

Squirt the sink-sludge water into a bucket. If it's the shower, squirt water/hair balls down toilet or into bucket.

Repeat until sink/shower etc runs freely. Mine has lasted about 5 years now but I can't remember where I bought it. The above Ebay items come from China, so expect slow delivery. If anyone can remember the generic name for these and can get to a US supplier, it would be much appreciated. HTH.

Reply to
Rubin Vast

Actually Holy Joe is still heard, today, some would say. About two or three years ago, the church banned power drinks, and power shots. They did not list names, but that would have to include five hour energy, Monster, Red Bull, and I'd have to guess at the others.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Thursday arrives. I tried the sink yesterday, after I put it all together. Still needs the gaskets replaced around where the drain meets the sink. One leaks badly. The PVC isn't sized very well. Stil has an air gap or two, around the pipes. I am thinking to replace the two gaskets, got to buy those today. And also buy a tube of silicone caulk, and put any where I think it might be leaking. It's a hack way of doing it, but at the moment I don't much care. Had enough of that nonsense.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I like the "as needed" schedule. I did buy a couple drain strainers, and plan to put less solid anything into the kitchen drain.

Nary beats hairy, any day.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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