Slow running sink

Maxson

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! The 4" soil pipe fitting that white waste is going into - looks like a boss connector - is there anything else going in there? It doesn't look like it - I think the toilet's waste goes in to the next fitting upwards? - then in theory that boss connector section can be rotated anticlockwise an inch or so so's the basin waste's boss inlet is further down the side. But not turn it as far as half-way. 

Between that and removing that half-inch from the pipe going it, you may crack the problem. 

So in theory I could whack the grey connector with a length of 3x2 at arms length and rotate it creating some fall in the white pipe?

Jeepers_Creepers

Gulp...yes, something like that.

You'd need to ensure that there's nothing OTHER than that white waste pipe going to it though. And unfortunately there's a good chance that the rubber O rings will be quite sticky, so it might not be easy to do. Not sure about 'whacking' it...

Can you reach it at all? If so, you can try rotating it back and forth and see if it eases up. If you can get hold of silicone lubricant spray, aim it at the joins at each end - that should help.

I THINK rotating it could do the trick, but that's going only from your photo, and there would need to be enough play/flex in the pipework.

The cutting-the-tile solution should be a goer, though - there shouldn't be a horizontal noggin in the way.

Maxson

OK so I'm not going to hit the pipework with a piece of wood!

Also will the white pipe be glued together preventing it's joints from rotating? I'll have to crawl in again and see if I can reach.

Should the white pipe just pull out of the 'boss' joint or will it be glued in?

fenwick458

Maxson said:

OK so I'm not going to hit the pipework with a piece of wood!

Also will the white pipe be glued together preventing it's joints from rotating? I'll have to crawl in again and see if I can reach.

Should the white pipe just pull out of the 'boss' joint or will it be glued in?

white pipes should be glued with a solvent weld glue.
the white pipe should pull straight out of the grey pipe, there will just be a rubber bung around it

Jeepers_Creepers

The (hopefully) small amount of rotation you are considering will be accommodated by some flexing of the main white pipe run to the boss. Where it goes into the boss should be rotatable, so the pipe length shouldn't actually be under any twisting (ok, pedants - shearing) force. 

If you first try removing the white pipe from the boss so's you can trim off that excess 15mm, that'll give you a very good idea of just how flexible and accommodating the pipe is, so hopefully that'll reassure you it'll be fine.

I'd personally still prefer the raising of the pipe where it goes through the wall approach. 

Maxson

I've been back in and I was able to reach in, pull the white pipe out of the boss and cut about 30mm off the end and push it back in. There was still about 30 or 35mm of white pipe left I could push back in so it should all be good. I tried to rotate the grey boss without using too much force or any hitting with wood and it seemed unwilling to budge so I'm leaving that alone. I'll put some buster down the plughole and hopefully that will clear it again and hopefully it might stay clearer.

Thanks for all the advice!