Getting My Pipes Cleaned
Aaron and Sonya were down for visit this weekend, which worked out nice. Finished up with birthday dinner at The Noodle Boat yesterday evening. About my favorite Thai food in the area, and run by a very nice family whom Aaron and Sonya have been friends with for years. Beth joined us for dinner too. It wasn't a birthday party, just a dinner with friends. Which is the perfect way to celebrate the day in my mind.
Saturday I took on a plumbing project. The upstairs bathroom sink have always drained slowly, and when I want at them a month ago with a plunger I blew the seals n the master bathroom sink. So I got some new hardware (well plastic), and got a more elegant and leak free trap and drain, solving the leak but the slow drainage problem. In fact not using the sink for a while had caused the slowness to seem more like a complete stoppage.
Here is the problem, the two sinks drain into the same pipe, and liquid plumbing products did not help much last time, so I needed a more aggressive solution. The 1problem is that the snake simply goes across the wall to the other sink, as it is a T instead of a more sensible Y joint. I went downstairs to see if there is anything I can do. The plumbing for the pipes is not accessible through the downstairs bathroom, just those for everything else (bathtubs, toilets), and on the other side of the wall is the garage, with a plywood ceiling and wall. The pipes are inside the wall. Luckily the sink drain has a jog, with a right angle elbow accessible above the washing machine, where it pops out of the ceiling and back into the top of the wall.
Washing machines are not designed for kneeling on top. Neither are knees designed for the washing machine tops. Before I got far I had to get a pile of rags on top of the washing machine which was quite handy when I removed the elbow which was held in place with pipe clamps on a rubber sleeve. Rather unpleasant water and effluvia came forth, which was mostly caught in the pan I brought for the purpose, and the rags got the rest. Running the snake then became quite easy, though I entertained myself with an unpleasant thought. How does the soap and such which goes down the drain turn into a nasty black goo?
Now my sinks drain even faster than when I bought the house -- as fast as the water can run out of the sinks. And the little nicks and such which the black goo got on have not infected so I am feeling pretty pleased with the result. I think that added to my enjoyment of my birthday on Sunday. That and the phone birthday serenades from Beth and my folks.
Saturday I took on a plumbing project. The upstairs bathroom sink have always drained slowly, and when I want at them a month ago with a plunger I blew the seals n the master bathroom sink. So I got some new hardware (well plastic), and got a more elegant and leak free trap and drain, solving the leak but the slow drainage problem. In fact not using the sink for a while had caused the slowness to seem more like a complete stoppage.
Here is the problem, the two sinks drain into the same pipe, and liquid plumbing products did not help much last time, so I needed a more aggressive solution. The 1problem is that the snake simply goes across the wall to the other sink, as it is a T instead of a more sensible Y joint. I went downstairs to see if there is anything I can do. The plumbing for the pipes is not accessible through the downstairs bathroom, just those for everything else (bathtubs, toilets), and on the other side of the wall is the garage, with a plywood ceiling and wall. The pipes are inside the wall. Luckily the sink drain has a jog, with a right angle elbow accessible above the washing machine, where it pops out of the ceiling and back into the top of the wall.
Washing machines are not designed for kneeling on top. Neither are knees designed for the washing machine tops. Before I got far I had to get a pile of rags on top of the washing machine which was quite handy when I removed the elbow which was held in place with pipe clamps on a rubber sleeve. Rather unpleasant water and effluvia came forth, which was mostly caught in the pan I brought for the purpose, and the rags got the rest. Running the snake then became quite easy, though I entertained myself with an unpleasant thought. How does the soap and such which goes down the drain turn into a nasty black goo?
Now my sinks drain even faster than when I bought the house -- as fast as the water can run out of the sinks. And the little nicks and such which the black goo got on have not infected so I am feeling pretty pleased with the result. I think that added to my enjoyment of my birthday on Sunday. That and the phone birthday serenades from Beth and my folks.
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