Blocked kitchen sink

[Beelzebub]

I've always had a very slow draining kitchen sink, usually a bit of mr muscle clears things up for a few weeks. Anyway last weekend we put the washing machine on and the blockage obviously got worse because the waste water overflowed through the sink and spilled out onto the floor

Anyway took the u bend off and it was clear, so reattached it all. Stuck some more mr muscle down and then half an hour later emptied the washing up water down there and there it stayed Its draining something like an inch every 2 hours.

I tried plunging for an hour last night, that done nothing except give me blisters. Trouble is we live in a flat so the blockage may even be with the girl underneath us.....

Any tips would be good.

 

[loafer]

i presume that your wash mac drain hose is attached to your kitchen sink trap from the description of the problem that you have. Is this the case? if so, if your waste from your wash mac has filled up your sink and flooded, then the obstruction to your waste is between the trap and whatever your waste water runs into.... hopper, yard gulley or perhaps less likely but I have seen it into a soil stack??? that is to say somewhere further along the waste run.
If mr. Muscle is proving to be a bit wimpy, then if you have access to the pipe run and it is push fit, try dismantling and having a poke with a piece of stout wire (coat hanger or the like) If you cannot get access to your waste pipes to dismantle (ie if theyre behind built in base units) you can purchase a drain auger. Its a long piece of tightly sprung coiled wire. Dismantle the trap (ubend) again and feed it into the waste pipe. These augers are about 2ms long and with a little twiddling (some can be fitted onto a drill/driver) you may be able to locate and free the obstruction.

 

[loafer]

silly me didnt read your post fully b4 submitting reply.
if youre in a high rise then there should be some access to rod the waste pipes. youd have to consult your local authority as they have records of where services run and waste etc regardless of whether it is council privately rented or privately owned. Its unlikely that your waste will run through or share with another property unless it is bossed into a shared waste pipe or soil stack on the outside... but I am guessing now....
What sort of flat is it??? high rise?? Large conversion into separate/multiple occupation??

Hint:

Giving as much background info will usually result in you gettin a better diagnostic and therefore better advice

good luck

 

[Softus]

Flats almost always share the soil stack.

If the bath is draining away quickly, and the kitchen sink slowly, then the blockage is not in the stack.

By rights a bath/basin/kitchen sink/washing machine/dishwasher combination should be in at least 2" pipework if they join before the stack, but this is very often not done correctly.

Your problem is going to be access to the blocked pipework. In my experience with flats the first fix plumbing is usually at fault, and the faulty pipe runs are therefore hard to get at. Leaving the problem to get worse has not helped matters, as the blockage will result in much gunk backing up along the pipework, and it will be more difficult locate it accurately.

On this occasion, if I were you, if you can pass any of the responsibility to anyone else (easy if you're a tenant) then I would. Otherwise, when it comes to the point of dismantling the place to find the pipework, then expert help is going to cost you dearly.

 

[Beelzebub]

Thanks for the replys. The bathroom sink and the bath drains away fine so I can assume it is the plumbing in our flat where the problem lies. Unfortunatly we're buying the flat so we can't pass the responsibility on, we do have some plumbers in the family so as a last resort we can call on them but ideally I'd like to sort the problem out myself.

I was thinking perhaps pushing a long wire brush (I have no idea what they're called) down the waste pipe to dislodge any blockage, thing is we only have access to maybe the first foot of waste pipe, the rest are behind the kitchen units So would this be the best course of action?


I have clue when it comes to plumbing but the irony is I'm due to start a plumbing course this September at college.....

 

[Softus]

Fair play - I didn't, and don't, wish to put you off trying to clean out the pipe.

I reckon it won't be too many years (or perhaps months) before many general plumbers start to deploy miniature cameras - I'm on the verge of getting one for situations just like yours!

 

[pop123456]

i presume that your wash mac drain hose is attached to your kitchen sink trap from the description of the problem that you have. Is this the case? if so, if your waste from your wash mac has filled up your sink and flooded, then the obstruction to your waste is between the trap and whatever your waste water runs into.... hopper, yard gulley or perhaps less likely but I have seen it into a soil stack??? that is to say somewhere further along the waste run.
If mr. Muscle is proving to be a bit wimpy, then if you have access to the pipe run and it is push fit, try dismantling and having a poke with a piece of stout wire (coat hanger or the like) If you cannot get access to your waste pipes to dismantle (ie if theyre behind built in base units) you can purchase a drain auger. Its a long piece of tightly sprung coiled wire. Dismantle the trap (ubend) again and feed it into the waste pipe. These augers are about 2ms long and with a little twiddling (some can be fitted onto a drill/driver) you may be able to locate and free the obstruction.

 

[Nige F]

i presume that your wash mac drain hose is attached to your kitchen sink trap from the description of the problem that you have. Is this the case? if so, if your waste from your wash mac has filled up your sink and flooded, then the obstruction to your waste is between the trap and whatever your waste water runs into.... hopper, yard gulley or perhaps less likely but I have seen it into a soil stack??? that is to say somewhere further along the waste run.
If mr. Muscle is proving to be a bit wimpy, then if you have access to the pipe run and it is push fit, try dismantling and having a poke with a piece of stout wire (coat hanger or the like) If you cannot get access to your waste pipes to dismantle (ie if theyre behind built in base units) you can purchase a drain auger. Its a long piece of tightly sprung coiled wire. Dismantle the trap (ubend) again and feed it into the waste pipe. These augers are about 2ms long and with a little twiddling (some can be fitted onto a drill/driver) you may be able to locate and free the obstruction.

Softus should have got his camera by now `06 - `11

 

[barkie1]