[sweetone]

Hi, my kitchen sink has been plugged for almost 1 week and I am tired of doing sidhes in the sink. After my mom passed away I have been busy with school and work and never had time to actually figure this problem out. So here is the deal.

I have a double sink, I purchased the 1sec plumber and didn't work, used liquid plumber didn't work and also boiling water which again didn't work.. my brother tried opening the trap part and it seems that this is where the sink is plugged, but I am scared on how to open the pipes or take them apart. One has kind of like a screw part where it will open, but the other part of the PVC pipe does not have a twisting option. Do I just pull it out?

I need to get into this area because I think this is the problem.


Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance:(

[RickJ]

That cap on the bottom is a "cleanout".

Put a bucket under it and take it off. That may solve your problem. If it does not, then a snake needs run from it back away from the sink.

You can buy a small hand snake for fairly cheap... a good thing to have around. Give it a try yourself - and if no luck call a plumber.

[sweetone]

Thank you, but one more thing how do I get snake in the pipe if I can only open one side of the pipe, see the red circle, I am having troubles opening the blue circle, there is no groove or anything to open with a wrench! DO I twist that also cause I treid and it won't work, is there a certain way of opening this side?

[RickJ]

That cap-looking piece you see pointing straight down - at the bottom of the "U" - should unscrew. Hopefully a ton o gunk will fall out when you open it... but if not, put the snake up through it.

It appears that the joint in blue has been glued (not the way to go for a kitchen sink) so unscrewing the part in red will do you no good.

In the long run, you should have all of that replaced with screw together plastic... but to fix your clog, go through that cap at the very bottom.

[labman]

Don't know where Tom is. If the above doesn't work, also try running the snake up through the blue circled joint. If that still doesn't do it, check for a nut at the top of the black pipe holding it to the sink. Remove it and the nut circled in red and pull the whole works out. If the nut at the top is metal and won't turn, take a hammer and tap all around it. Alternate tapping and trying the wrench.

If still not clear, try running the snake down the drain again. You will have one less bend now to go through. Next step is to remove the pipe where it goes into the wall.

No need to replace the pipe. With the clean clean out, you don't need to break the joint in blue. Just clean all the threads up good and put everything back together. May need to pick up some new gaskets from the hardware store.

[speedball1]

Sweety,

Let me tell you why plumbers hate a sink stoppage where the customer has poured drain opener down the drain and then called us. It's because the water that's left in the sink and trap is loaded with lye and acid. Do I have to tell you what happens if you get a face full of lye? Blindness, disfigurement and a lot of pain. USE EXTREAM CAUTION if you open that trap. A better solution would be to call a plumber and inform him you have poured drain opener down the drain and let him deal with it.
If you still wish to do your own work I can tell you how to open the trap up and then walk you through snaking out the drain line. Most sink clogs are in the lateral (horizontal) pipe in the wall and can be reached only by a snake.
Again: I strongly advise you to not open that trap unless you've had experience in snaking out a drain that's full of drain opener but it's your call.
Good luck, Tom