Sink totally blocked!!

hayley11

The other night I noticed the sink was draining really slowly..so I poured some bleach down and the water turned a bit red and carried on draining slowly. I went to bed. Next day, the sink is totally blocked, it's not draining at all!! The bleach couldn't have done that could it?? It was thin bleach not thick.

It's one of those sinks where you have a smaller "sink" attached to it, when I turn the tap on in that, the main sink fills up!

I have been plunging like there's no tomorrow but that's got me nowhere. I bought some drain unblocker stuff from wilkos (for £4!!) and that's had no effect either! So now my sink is full of all these chemicals (smells nice and clean!) but I can't get rid of it!!

If I was to remove the u-bend, how easy is this? I could ask my OH to do it tonight I guess but he's worse than me at things like this so I might just do it myself.

I really really do not want to pay for a plumber so any help would be much appreciated!

barnabee

Removing the u-bend is easy. Wear gloves and place a bowl under the u-bend. Unscrew the large knurled knobs, they should only be hand tight, and remove the u-bend(s).
Clear any blockage and make sure you refit the rubber sealing rings back on correctly.
Sounds as if it may be more than just the u-bend blocked up though.

Wolverine77

Removing the u-bend is very easy just unscrew the both ends use a drying cloth for better grip and make sure you have a basin under the u-bend to catch any access water.

Now look in your u-bend if this is the problem then clean it out remember if you throwing waste food down the sink when you’re washing dishes or especially fat from frying pans, oven dishes or cooking oil this will defiantly block the sink up.

Let me know how you get on?

latecomer

Dont forget to empty as much water out of the sink as you can before taking off the u-bend or you'll get the contents of it all over the place.

spankymonkey_2

try holding a rag over the overflow of the sink, sounds like you are not plunging the sink at all the air is just coming straight out the overflow!

hayley11

I've just had a go at plunging again, this time trying to cover up the other plug and overflow as much as possible, still doesn't seem to have done any good.

I'll go and check it in a while and see if the waters gone down any. I think I will wait for my OH to get home before we take the u-bend....

Thanks for your replies, i'll let you know how we get on later

James_N

All the other posts have good advice - but do also check OUTSIDE the house / flat to see the water drains away correctly in to a drain or gully. You may have also blocked that with whatever had affected the U bend (e.g. maybe food fats).

basmic

I'd be half tempted to pour kettles full of hot boiling water in the sink, until it's full. If it's fat, hopefully the hot water will soften or melt it enough to get things flowing.

Failing that, try some warm-ish water and a good dosing of caustic soda.

WobblyGoblin

try the u-bend first as that's easy. If the blockage is further down, you can try one of those flexible pipe things and have a poke aound with that.

If the water tsarts to drain again slowly then hot water is a good idea. Plug the mini draining sink and then fill the main sink with water boiled from the kettle. Pull out the plug and let it go down. Do that a couple of times. This works better then most of those sink and plughole unblocking gimmicks. If you do it once a month (or so) it helps to stop the fat deposits etc building up.

Kiran

There's no subsitute for a mechanical/physical cleaning. Taking the U bend off and cleaning the trap will be your first point of call. Next would be putting a plumbers snake down the next section of pipe. If you do need to go the chemicals route the 1 shot (hydrochloric acid so be careful with it) is about as good as they come. It doesn't damage the PVC pipes but it can disolve paper towels in drains so it should get through most stuff. I used to work in a trade tool shop when I was a kid and that was the best thing we sold. Cheaper that all the gimic cleaners with skinny men etc......


Good luck

Steve_the_fitter

You can buy something from a plumber merchants called one stop drain block (I think) its very good and gets rid of most blocks in drains but be very careful as its a bout 95% acid. Follow the instructions to the T and dont put to much in at once. It will stink your kitchen out but works a treat