Unblocking the sink!

King Damager

King Damager

King Damager

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Ok... Soooo, the inevitable time in my life has come where someone in my flat has somehow managed to block up the sink (could well have been me to be fair).

The Landlords 'maintenance' is around on Friday, but I'd rather not go until then without being able to do washing up, so a fix that would at least speed up water flowing down our sink at less than a trickle pace would be nice...

Last night there was basically no issue what so ever with drainage from the sink.

However we do have an issue whereby the washing machine sometimes manages to fill up the sink when draining water out of it. I thought originally this was down to my flatmates overfilling the washing machine....

Basically. We've just tried Plunging it - that basically makes no difference. After water leaves the sink it takes, probably over 5 minutes until the drain stops sending water out. We have checked and cleared the drain (ours is nowhere near as bad as some of the other houses around us, but we did it none the less). We've poured hot water down the drain, and are wondering if thick bleach would do any good? We tried poking a massive stick down there earlier, and I reckon the stick went further than the U-Bend. So I'm pretty sure the blockage is after that.

The way our sink works we have two 'sinks' like a main sink and a mini-sink as well, and they all drain out to one point. Well when we plunger one sink, water spurts up out of the other sink - We tried it with a plug in one sink as well and plunging the other one, and it worked a couple of times, but once there was so much pressure that the water probably went up a good foot and a half in the air. - Not unblocked yet....

For a rough idea on how the drainage from stuff works, I've attached an image below.

Any suggestions? Short of taking apart the whole system -.-


imag0091fw.jpg


kd
 
Wait for it to clear as much as possible and put a bucket or some sort of container under the u-bend. Unscrew the u-bend and inspect, cleaning out if possible.

If it's blocked up, clear it out, and reattach the u-bend. Test. Unfortunately, you may find that it's clear here, in which case the blockage is probably further down the pipe.

If this is the case, go to the local hardware store and pick up some 'One Shot', some rubber gloves and some eye protection. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. Then follow the instructions which mostly involve pouring one shot down the sink, waiting a bit, and then flushing through with water in 5-10minutes. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

Take care not to get it on hands/face/skin/anywhere.

This has done the trick for me on a couple of occasions and was recommended to me by the plumber we had round to replace some of the piping (hoping to fix the drainage problem).

But, be careful, and READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
 
Don't plunge the sink too much, you'll break it. You can try boiling water and drain degreaser. If that doesn't help, you have to start undoing the pipes and use rods etc.
 
Robbie G said:
Well the OP is called 'King Damager' :D. Besides I've done it loads and it's never 'exploded'. Any pressure goes out of the sink or down the drain.
Click to expand...
If there's a blockage, it comes out the sink and either all over you or the kitchen.
simulatorman said:
Large bowl and start unscrewing.
Click to expand...
This. It's the quickest and most efficient way.
 
I did say preferably without taking it apart. Pretty sure, the blockage isn't in the u-bend. We've poked various things down further than the u-bend, with no resistance. Going to try some soda crystals - the ones you'd use for a washing machine clearing out....

Otherwise, yeah might take a trip to the local hardware store. See how much stuff costs, if it's extortionate, guess we can wait until Friday, otherwise, I'll pick some up...

kd
 
I think One Shot is £7.99 from Robert Dyas - but the more you put it off though the closer it gets to Friday. This would be my approach ;)

You could try washing up stuff in a bucket and then pouring the bucket down a known good drain (such as the toilet!).
 
I should say we have already had the u-bend off once this year where we had a similar issue. At that point there was a tiny bit of stuff in the u-bend but not much....

Soda crystals did nothing....

kd
 
See the problem is I'm tempted by the idea... Mostly because things blowing up tends to result in me laughing.... Not sure the landlord would see it the same way though...

kd
 
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