Very S-L-O-W draining blocked kitchen sink, plunging makes it worse...

General_query

Hi, we have had a very slow draining kitchen sink, at 9pm last night it was full to just under the overflow hole and it finally drained at 10am this morning.

We have used a plunger but the force of that just made the black plastic "ridged" connector pipe (see pictures) come loose from near the top and all the water came pouring out underneath the sink and all over the pipes and kitchen floor!

This has always been a poor draining sink but now we can't even clear the blockage with a plunger as each time the pressure just makes the overflow pipe come loose. FYI, it doesn't scew together, just pushes onto the smooth upright hard plastic pipe.
Seems ridiculous this "black ridged joining piece of pipe" just pushes on at either end
Any suggestions please? We have a 3 year old and it's a pain having to keep emptying the contents of the sink with jug and pour it down the toilet. It's currently completely drained as of 12pm, and am reluctant to put any more water in it. Put 6 kettles full of nearly boiling water down plughole at weekend, but now it takes over 12 hours to naturally drain.

You needed to be a contortionist to get under the sink and take those, so sorry for poor quality/shaky images.

Thank you.

General_query

When we poured a little bit of water down the overflow hole at the weekend it didn't leak/pour out the plastic pipe, so no holes in it. It just comes loose with pressure of plunging.

Martin_the_Unjust

First thing to do is take of the U bend underneath the sink and clean it out.

If that doesn't solve your problem come back

EssexExile

Yes, the u-bend & any other bends further down that are easy to get at. The blockage is nearly always at a bend.

Martin_the_Unjust

Clear the blockage and then stop putting stuff down the sink drain that causes the blockage, almost certainly fats and other food waste.

shaun_from_Africa

I would highly recommend trying one of these:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/sink-bath-unblocker/13894
Stick it over the plug hole and pull the plunger up. This should loosen whatever is causing the blockage and as you are sucking rather than pressuring the outlet pipes, there is far less chance of causing another leak.
I had to use one a couple of days ago and it worked a treat.

EssexExile

shaun_from_Africa said:

I would highly recommend trying one of these:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/sink-bath-unblocker/13894
Stick it over the plug hole and pull the plunger up. This should loosen whatever is causing the blockage and as you are sucking rather than pressuring the outlet pipes, there is far less chance of causing another leak.
I had to use one a couple of days ago and it worked a treat.

You'd have to put a bung in that overflow pipe first.

TELLIT01

For a 'bung' on the overflow a piece of gaffer tape will do the job.

452

shaun_from_Africa said:

I would highly recommend trying one of these:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/sink-bath-unblocker/13894
Stick it over the plug hole and pull the plunger up. This should loosen whatever is causing the blockage and as you are sucking rather than pressuring the outlet pipes, there is far less chance of causing another leak.
I had to use one a couple of days ago and it worked a treat.

Are you sure it sucks?

The description says it injects high pressure water.

cpbackhouse

452 said:

shaun_from_Africa said:

I would highly recommend trying one of these:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/sink-bath-unblocker/13894
Stick it over the plug hole and pull the plunger up. This should loosen whatever is causing the blockage and as you are sucking rather than pressuring the outlet pipes, there is far less chance of causing another leak.
I had to use one a couple of days ago and it worked a treat.

Are you sure it sucks?

The description says it injects high pressure water.

We have one and you can use it both ways. If you 'seal' it over the plug and pull up handle up it will cause suction. I've found this to work quite well to loosen a blockage that then will wash down the pipe.
The other way to use it is to fill it with water (normally from a full sink) then seal it over the plug and press down so it pushes water at a pressure down the drain. You definitely have to be careful though if you are using it with pressure that you don't blow apart your pipes.
Having said that, as mentioned above, the best starting point is any bends in the pipe you can get to. 

General_query

Hi, thanks everyone. Had to wait until our little one had gone to sleep.

Took apart the pipe (circled green) and emptied the water out and it was nice and clean, so screwed it back together then got my partner to hold the black plastic overflow pipe together with her hands as I plunged the plug hole in the empty basin from above while holding a wet cloth over the overflow hole in the sink, could hear some gurgle so, and hoped that had fixed it, so other half crawls out (pipe was still connected) and put like 1 litre of water in the sink, it went nowhere! So, she observed as I used plunger again while covering overflow again and the darn water shot out of the overflow pipe again soaking the cupboard and gas meter until I dropped the plunger and reconnected it.

There's an obvious blockage further down we can't get to and i couldn't loosen the part circled in red, but doubt that's where the blockage is