Kitchen sink draining slowly. Need help.

[veramax]

Hi folks,

My kitchen sink is draining very slowly. I have to assume there is blockage somewhere preventing smooth water flow. I can't afford a plumber. I come from a construction family, and my brother was a plumber. Sadly, they are all deceased. I was thinking about removing pipes B & C, and cleaning their interiors. That would give me access to P-Trap D, and maybe with the right brush, I could clear that away without unscrewing the P-Trap. Does this sound reasonable?

Does it matter what order I unscrew the coupling nuts? I assume I should shut the water off, and have a bucket underneath to catch pipe water.

When I go to put everything back together, do the coupling nuts need something, like plumbing tape? Is there anything I need to know that my brain isn't catching? Thank you!

 

[Reach4]

Let the sink sit unused overnight. Pour water from a bucket into the sink. How much water does it take to see backing up? 1 quart? 1 gallon? 10 ft of 1.5 inch pipe is on the order of a gallon. https://www.inchcalculator.com/pipe-volume-calculator/

The clog under a kitchen sink often occurs where the line transitions from vertical to horizontal. Maybe that is in the basement.

To clean, I think that bottom nut will not be useful. I would try to disassemble to where you get C open.

Then run a snake down that, and hope that it makes the turn down in the wall, instead of up to the vent. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/trouble-snaking-bathtub-drain.95143/#post-684357

If there is a roof vent right above, it may be possible to get somebody to snake down from the roof. Don't fall.

 

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[veramax]

It's a condo apt. high rise. Beyond the wall pipe, the piping goes down. I've had to replace P-traps previously, from rotting, but this newest one appears to be in decent condition. I no longer use Drano.

If you run the tap water, it takes about a minute for the water to accumulate towards the sink's strainer basket. If the sink is full of dishwater, it takes about 4-5 minutes to drain.

I'm very careful about what goes down the drain. The sink is never run without the strainer in place. But I'm not the only one who uses the sink. It has been at least 8-10 years since I had the P-trap changed.

 

[Reach4]

Based on that, I presume the water blockage is not in the section of piping shown in your photo.

If the sink is full of dishwater, it probably holds what -- 4 gallons? So that means that your clog passes around a gallon of water per minute. So if we presume that your tap delivers 2 gallons per minute, we might take that into account in our estimating calculations.

Can you get the "super" involved in this?

If you run the tap water, it takes about a minute for the water to accumulate towards the sink's strainer basket.

Time how long it takes the tap to deliver 2 cups of water into your measuring cup, or tell us how much a container increases in weight when you deliver X seconds of water into the container. If you don't yet have a cooking scale, those are really useful.

Or just run a snake thru the trap and see what happens.

 

[Sylvan]

I had a client who lived in a condo 476 5th ave I think it was on the 36 floor as this was back in the late 1980's

Any how the board of directors were taught the piping inside the walls are not the stock holders responsibility BUT everything outside the walls the board and management agent felt was the owner of the apartment responsibility.

I explained if the apartment owner is responsible for the piping inside the wall as it was years of grease build up then it stands to reason the people on the top floor are responsible for the roof and the people on the main floor are responsible for the boiler correct?

Of course this is not the case but they understood my point

I once told a friend of my father about Clobber sulfuric acid used by some plumbers and handyman but it is very dangerous

This guy bought some used it in a building in Brooklyn off Ocean ave (very old co op)and he lived on the 5th floor

The acid ate the piping from his apartment down to the 2nd floor and he was sued

Your best bet is to talk to the superintendent slip him a $100 bucks and ask him to take care of it

To snake the line properly would require removal of the trap and the 2" galvanized nipple behind the trap will be rotten from galvanic action

Now the nipple has to be removed CAREFULLY from the cast iron tee behind the wall and a new nipple and trap will have to be replaced.

Your looking at a possible charge of over $570.00 plus tax

 

[veramax]

We identified a leak at one of the coupling nuts. I'm pretty sure the P-trap has build-up, and maybe it needs to be replaced again. I have no choice but to rely on a professional now. Thank you for the help.

 

[JohnCT]

I have no experience with them, but there are enzymatic drain cleaners sold which are supposed to be completely harmless to pipes.

John

 

[Sylvan]

Let the sink sit unused overnight. Pour water from a bucket into the sink. How much water does it take to see backing up? 1 quart? 1 gallon? 10 ft of 1.5 inch pipe is on the order of a gallon. https://www.inchcalculator.com/pipe-volume-calculator/

The clog under a kitchen sink often occurs where the line transitions from vertical to horizontal. Maybe that is in the basement.

To clean, I think that bottom nut will not be useful. I would try to disassemble to where you get C open.

Then run a snake down that, and hope that it makes the turn down in the wall, instead of up to the vent. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/trouble-snaking-bathtub-drain.95143/#post-684357

If there is a roof vent right above, it may be possible to get somebody to snake down from the roof. Don't fall.

On a high building there maybe a stack vent or vent stack depending on the mood of the installer meaning it may not even enter a waste /soil line

Also running a 3/8 cable (usually max 35 feet) would be useless as it would

1- Never reach the stoppage

2- Snaking a 3/8 cable down a 4" vent is useless