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How To Unclog A Kitchen Sink
Do You Want To Know How To Unclog A Kitchen Sink?
How to unclog a kitchen sink in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Portage, Battle Creek, Vicksburg, Schoolcraft, Centreville, Climax, Scotts, Fulton, Plainwell, Richland, Delton, Oshtemo, Mattawan, Otsego, Plainwell, Athens, Augusta, Bedford, Pennfield, Emmett Charter Township, Bellevue, Albion, Homer, Tekonsha, Union City, Coldwater, MI. We will give you step by step directions for the best way how to fix clogged kitchen sinks.
The first thing you need to do is rent a drain cleaning machine (drain snake) from your local hardware store we recommend the Ridgid K-3800 this drain snake machine will have a 1/2 inch cable with 75 feet of cable perfect for snaking out your clogged kitchen sink. Be sure to get the correct size cable for your kitchen sink drain pipe. If the cable is too big it will not work so be sure to ask the salesman at the hardware store that the drain cleaning machine you are renting is the correct one for your kitchen sink drain, most kitchen sink drain pipe are 1 1/2 inch or 2-inch drain pipes. The second thing you need to do is suck out the water that is in the sink with a shop vac or if you don’t have a shop vac then simply put a bucket under the trap of the sink drain. The trap will be either a P-trap or an S-trap. A P-trap will go through the wall & an S-trap will go through the floor. If you don’t have a shop vac you will need to loosen the nut up on the trap slowly & don’t loosen the nut off all the way so you can let the water out slowly draining into the bucket. After the water has drained down or after you have sucked out the water with a shop vac you will need to take apart the trap.
After you have taken the trap apart you will want to get a garden hose & hook it up to a hot water, you can use the hot water that you use for your washer machine hook up. The garden hose will come into play after you use the drain snake machine. After you have plugged in the drain cleaning machine you will put the cable into the drain snake cable into the drain opening at the wall or at the bottom of the cabinet where you too apart the S-trap. After yo have put the drain cable into the pipe you will start the machine the drain machine will spin the cable inside the drain pipe making it easier to make nay 90 degree turns. You will want to make sure that you push the cable all the way to the tie in at the sewer pipe. If you have a long run like over 40 feet you may be able to also go through the floor drain at the clean out as the floor drain may share the same drain pipe. I only recommend this if it is really hard for you to push the cable all the way to the tie in a the sewer pipe & if you know for a fact that the kitchen sink & floor drain share the same drain pipe to the tie in at the sewer. As you cleaning the the kitchen sink drain pipe have some one slowly turn on the hot water for the hose after you have put it in the drain pipe (put a bucket under the drain) & keep the drain machine running at the same time.
You may have to repeat this process many times before it will start to drain. Once you think you have unclogged the kitchen sink keep the hot water running & the drain snake machine as this will help clean the pipe much better & it will clean the cable of your drain machine. The best way on how to fix a clogged kitchen sink is to be sure it is cleaned all the way to the sewer pipe (main drain) as this will ensure a very long lasting drain for your kitchen sink.
If you are cleaning the drain pipe for the kitchen sink & it starts to back up through the floor drain when you are running hot water the it would be wise to stop cleaning it from under the kitchen sink & start from the clean out on the floor drain located at the side of the floor drain. Do not go through the hole that go straight down this is the trap & you will probably ruin the drain snake cable. The hole in the middle if the floor drain that goes straight down is the trap I only recommend doing this if you know what your are doing. It is highly recommend to go through the clean out a the side of the drain, it will have a square nut on it in most cases. You will probably need a hammer & cold chisel to remove the clean out plug as these do not come out easy unless it is PVC clean out plug or expansion plug.
Once you have move your hose & drain cleaning machine to the floor drain you will want to put the drain snake cable into the clean out opening pushing it straight into he drain pipe. If you know how far your sewer pipe is from this point then make sure you run the cable all the way to the sewer pipe. You can have someone put their ear up to the sewer pipe to listen to hear if you r drain snake is inside the sewer pipe because they will here it banging around inside the sewer pipe. One you know that you have gone far enough turn the hot water back on to the hose & start running water while your cable is spinning inside the drain pipe. Once you think it is draining good you can put your ear up to the sewer pipe & listen to see if you can here the water draining into the sewer pipe. Once you know that you have unclogged the kitchen sink put the trap back together & start running water even with the hose running at the floor drain. Let the water run for about 10 minutes then fill the sink 3/4 of the way & let the water out.
Kitchen sink can be very messy so it is wise to use tarps & have plenty of rags. Your kitchen sink will usually have a grease build up in it & will will stain anything that it comes in contact with so be careful & use tarps & rags to help prevent a mess.
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If your not unable to clear the clog from your kitchen sink you can call Drain Monkeys 24/7 for drain cleaning at (269) 366-8087 for service.
