Escutcheon/Waste Line leak under Kitchen Sink

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slickweatherman

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I have a fairly significant leak coming from the point under my kitchen sink where the water, having passed through the trap, enters the wall. There is an escutcheon there and I believe this is where the water enters the main waste line. To give an idea of scope, when the sink is being run the water drips at something in the range of 2-4 drips/second. Not enough to flood my kitchen, but enough to saturate everything that was stored under my sink. What is the scope of the problem here? Do I need to get inside the wall? Will the sink base need to be removed? I am a novice, but not ignorant entirely to terminology etc... Any help is appreciated.
 

hj

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You have not told us anything about WHERE the leak is occurring, so there is no way to give an answer. The escutcheon is a "cover plate" so it has to be removed so you can see the source of the leak.
 

Hairyhosebib

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Start by removing the drain from the P Trap to the wall. If you disturb the tail piece you may end up with a leak there too. OR, You may just want to remove the entire drain including the sink strainer basket. Once you start wrenching on the old drain i would bet that the strainer will come loose and then the mess begins! If you can get the ring off that holds it tight you will have won a big battle. DO NOT USE PLUMBERS PUTTY!!! That stuff is a JOKE! It should have gone when a good silicone was developed! The silicone you want to use to seal the old cleaned up strainer or the new one you will need to buy to replace the one you will destroy removing it is a small tube of CLEAR GE SILICONE II. Don't buy white, it takes too long to cure.
OK...So what your leak will hopefully be is a 1 1/2 inch slip washer and slip nut might need to be replaced. If your drain is all metal then removing the old trap arm might well be another huge fight. If it is plastic then it should not be too bad. Again, if it is metal and old you might just need to pack a lunch. If it breaks off in the wall......HA HA LOOK OUT! Genius plumbers who put more than an inch of trap arm in a drain should be SHOT!

OK.....Why do I hate PLUMBERS PUTTY?? The first reason is that it says it never dries out.....LIE!! Then how come when I remove an old faucet it crumbles away? Really the biggest reason is that I work at a University where research is done. Laboratories and some homes now use REVERSE OSMOSIS water systems. RO or Deionized water is extremely clean water and really wants to be dirty. It wants to be dirty so much that it will eat the plumbers putty out from under the sink strainer! This usually happens about a year after it is installed in the brand new lab that the genius contractor plumber installed because HEY!, That's the way Uncle Billy taught me to do it four years ago! By then the ring is nearly impossible to remove cause the people in the lab never see the leak under the sink and it sort of grows together and has to be cut out with a saw. SO...If you are re installing your old sink strainer or a new one, do yourself a favor and put a little silicone grease or valve grease on the threads that the ring tightens on. It will be easier to get apart the next time. If you do all I suggest you might never need to replace it.
 
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hj

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quote; This usually happens about a year after it is installed in the brand new lab that the genius contractor plumber installed because HEY!

Stick with what you know. I have been installing sink strainers with putty, even when there is an R/O unit in the sink, for over 60 years and when they are installed PROPERLY, they do NOT come loose, period, much less in "about a year". They "come loose" and the "ring is hard to remove" because the installer is careless, or sloppy, and gets putty or silicone on the threads so they seize before they become tight.
 
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