US Sink Problem

[SimonC]

Hello from a Brit in Los Angeles -

Not finding a US version of this group after a search, maybe someone can point me in the direction of one, or maybe have some advice regarding the following.

I've got a kitchen sink which is comprised of two sinks - one for draining, and one for washing things in, and disposing of food waste - it has one of those electrical "In-Sink-Erator" things.

Whenever I'm washing even just a few dishes in the main sink under the tap, then bubbles will start to come up out of the other plug hole.

And sometimes when I turn on the In-Sink-Erator (in the main sink), a lot of waste water will come up out of the other sink.

The pipes underneath have been given a clean with one of those "snake" things, but the problem remains. I've been told the problem may be something to do with an air-lock, or an air-vent.

Does anybody have any insights? (Especially if you have experience of these US sinks.)

Thanks in advance, Simon.

[Capitol]

I fear you may have discovered US plumbing! How far is it from the sink waste outlet before the pipework goes into a 3" or 4" connecting pipe. You would need to rod the pipework all the way from from the sink to the 4" pipe to give yourself a slight chance. There are two main problems with waste disposers and waste pipe systems, the first is silting, where the chewed up eggshells/bones/nut shells are not flushed adequately by the water flow, the second is allied to the first in that you get congealed grease on the wall of the pipe to which the silt sticks. There is a liquid product from your local Ace hardware, which is a combined alkali/detergent which sometimes works if you pour it down and leave it for a few hours- the name escapes me at the moment(Liquid plumber?). However, you are likely to have to rod the entire 2" and 4" drain system for some distance to achieve a lasting solution. A further joy of some US systems, is that they may have a non return valve in the

4" system to prevent basement flooding if the system backs up. If this jams, you can find that the drainage system doesn't work too well, look for it, ask your neighbours. Waste disposer systems should always be flushed once a year IMO, unless there is an adequate supply of high speed excreta wrapped in toilet paper to keep the 4" system from silting!! IME many US systems have very slow flow rates and 3" pipework, which can block very easily. I don't know of any other major country, where a common topic of social conversation is "toilets I have blocked"! Your local Home Depot may have a large plunger, where the head end is a concertina, say 10" long x 4" dia. These can frequently give some local relief if applied via a toilet bowl at the best point in the system.

Hope this helps

Regards Capitol

[Christian McArdle]

Try pdaxs.services.plumbing.

Low traffic and technically (but not in reality) regional, but this is their bread and butter.

Also, alt.home.repair, which is pretty equivalent to this group, although any perusal of an electrical question is quite scary to those used to UK wiring standards. They're full of people wanting to use aluminium cable to save 50c and who sells double sockets for 25c. No wonder they all die by electrocution and fire.

Christian.