clogged sink and then a leak...I need help! :)

[wishful_thinker]

So the other day I started to do the dishes, started separating everything and by the time I got done separating them...didn't even start washing them, I noticed the sink wouldn't drain. We were out of any draino or anything like that but I got to thinking and asked my boyfriend if you can plunge a sink like you can a toilet. He said he wasn't sure but didn't see why not, so to double check, I looked online and saw that it's actually recommended to plunge over chemicals. So I got the plunger and it worked, the sink drained and then I heard a woosh of running water under the sink. I looked and everything that was in the sink was coming up through a pipe. Now I don't know anything about plumbing, I don't know any technical terms so I found this picture online that looks like the plumbing under my sink.



Except that mine wasn't leaking from where it's labeled on this picture, on mine all the water came out of where it's labeled "inline vent" in the picture.

I'm thinking maybe I did it too hard or something and it popped the cap off? I have no idea, but any suggestions on how to fix it are very, very appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Greg]

It sounds to me like the slip joint came apart. where the leak is there is a nut that the pipe slides through. There should be a plastic or rubber seal around the pipe above the nut. Back the nut off of the sink bowl and make sure the pipe & seal are in place and then retighten the nut. As long as you are in there and you already have a mess, put a bucket under the trap and take that apart to make sure it is cleaned out. Greg

[Greg S]

Double check to make sure the plug is actually cleared. The blockage forced the water up the stack when you plunged so the blockage may not have cleared.

[Brenda OH reregister]

one place part that may have the clog is where the s bend is in the pipe under the sink.

when you have that part open, if you have or can borrow a plumbers snake, that may be a good place to put the snake in to be able to easily get it further down the line more easily, since you will not have to be getting it to bend through the curve. be careful you don't get too vigorous and crack the edges of the pipes, you want to put the s pipe (also called the drain trap) back together without having made it leak.

Brenda (OH)

[wishful_thinker]

Thanks everyone! It took 3 different tries to get the sink fixed. My step-dad brought his snake over the first time, but it was super, super old and wasn't flexible enough to fit in the pipe. So he got a new one with a 15 ft cord and it wasn't long enough. So he got a 35 ft cord...and THAT wasn't even long enough. He taped the two together to get 50 ft(!!) of cord before he finally reached the clog. So needless to say, I had a lot of dishes to do last night. (I've been doing some in dishpans and dumping the water...but I still had a looot of dirty dishes)

[oldfart]

Well now Wishfull it seem your problems have already been addressed. The clog has been vacated and you understand what happend. Forceful plunging shoved the water up the vent and it came back down and GOOOOSH! Now lets address the real problem..what caused the clog in the first place? Yes... sometimes The ++++Fairy just waves her magic wand and..you've got a clogged drain. But usually we cause our own problems without actually knowing it. And in a mobile home this can cause unexpected and horrifying problems!! A clogged kitchen sink might lead to "stuff" backing up in the tub/shower. Go figger?? How are they connected? Who really knows? First and foremost..never put anything down the kitchen sink except water. Anything smaller than a molecule of water will plug them boogers up! Don't drain pasta (spagetti/lasagna etc.) in a kitchen sink without lots of water to clear out the starch and all the little bits&pieces! This stuffs gits hard as concrete in the traps and such and is a major pain to clear!! And never rinse any ground vegatable products down a sink! ARRRGH! Corn (as in grits/cornmeal etc.) expands exponentially in water. So does rice/barley/hummus and any other dried grains. A single dried bean/legume can expand enough to clog a 4 inch drain! Trust me! Bean (pun..) there..done that! And no combin' yer hair over the sink ner chuckin' any cigerette-butts down that drain nither! Mind ye!! A cigerette butt kin swell up enough to clog up a 12in. drain pipe and dynamite won't clear it!! And no grease..not even a single drop! Not even the bacon drippin's from a single strip of bacon!! EVER! This stuff gets solid inn'a hurry in cold weather and even C-4 cain't move this stuff!! (PUFFF!!) Been there and done that too! Audie..the Oldfart...

[wishful_thinker]

Thanks a lot oldfart! I knew about the grease thing, I always thought that it was ok as long as you ran it with hot water, but my boyfriend told me that wasn't true and I stopped doing that long ago. I drain all my grease into a giant pickle jar and stash it under the sink until it gets full and I throw it away. But as for everything else, I do drain sketti noodles in the sink and on occasion some come out of my strainer and go down the drain before I can grab them...I've gotten much better now about what goes down drains in my house after this whole ordeal. I've bought those little traps that go in drains to catch food and put in one in each sink drain. I definitely don't want this to happen again.