Kitchen sink drain clog
Our kitchen sink is clogged and Drano did not fix it. The same thing happened a few weeks ago and we called in a plumber who snaked the line and that fixed it only temporarily. The plumber did say that the snake came up greasy (from now on we’ll dispose of our cooking grease differently…
Our kitchen sink is clogged and Drano did not fix it. The same thing happened a few weeks ago and we called in a plumber who snaked the line and that fixed it only temporarily. The plumber did say that the snake came up greasy (from now on we’ll dispose of our cooking grease differently – not that we create that much to begin with).
The sink and pipes are only 2 years old. The kitchen is on the 2nd floor of our rear extension and drains directly down to our main drain pipe in the cellar. We have a garbage disposal in the sink (Insinkerator Pro17). When we turn the disposal on, the water does go down, but then it backs up again. I would have thought that meant the problem was at the garbage disposal (i.e. the water not draining out of the disposal itself). The dishwasher seems to be draining just fine, which also suggests to me that the problem is above the dishwasher connection to the drain pipe. The plumber disagreed and thought the clog was farther down the line.
A message on this site a few weeks ago suggested that a shower clog be cleared by pouring in baking soda and then vinegar and leaving it overnight. Would that work here?
Does anyone have suggestions on how to tackle this? I am hoping not to spend another king’s ransom to have a plumber come for what turns out to be only a temporary fix.
Thanks very much.
In the past all I’ve needed for my disposal maintenance is the little “widget” tool they supply to unstick it when it’s having trouble digesting stuff and sticks.
Something’s happening now that Ive never seen here or elsewhere. The disposal is digesting fine and all goes down but three inches of water comes back up when the switch is turned off. How do I get to what’s causing that – necessarily a plumbing call? Thanks.
Original poster here. Thanks for the helpful advice. Turns out we had 2 problems: (1) our main drain pipe was clogged and (2) there was a clog inside the garbage disposal (which I find odd, it seems to have been vegetable matter, which is exactly the kind of stuff you’re supposed to put in the garbage disposal). Everything has now been snaked and I have been told about a product that sounds very useful for maintaining the pipes going forward – it’s a bacteria and enzyme product called Bio-Clean that you can put in the drains every couple of months, and it eats away at the gunk, but doesn’t hurt the pipes and is environmentally friendly. (www.bio-clean.com).
Thanks again.
you need to have the main drain snaked by roto rooter. we had the same problem, we don’t pour grease down the sink, but the people who lived here in the past 145 years must have, so…. it is about $700.
It is never a good thing to pour grease down your kitchen drain. I have a couple of different ways of dealing with used oil the few times that I use it to fry…let it cool, pour it into an empty quart milk or juice carton, then freeze it. The night that you put the trash outside, take the entire carton and throw it away. The other way is to saturate paper towels with the oil once it’s cooled, then put in a plastic bag, tie securely and throw away. It’s a little sloppy, but you won’t destroy your plumbing.
I would suggest buying your own snake ($12-14) and snake it again. I bought one and it’s a great investment for clogs. Make sure the end can fit through the slots on your drain. (I’m not sure how this would work with a disposal.) A snake is a good tool to have around–faster, safer, and dare I say it, funner than drano.
bleach always works for me. Is this drain poperly vented? The dishwasher drains above the trap so it would seem the problem is the garbage disposal.
yes . white vinegar will unclog it . dump a bottle of white vinegar down the drain overnight . in the morning boil water and dump that down the drain . don’t ever use drano . that stuff rots the pipes out .