The Great Unblocking

[Sir Percy]

This Sunday's job: unblocking the kitchen sink. It had been put off for far too long, in the dread anticipation of the slimy grey mess that lay in wait. I couldn't have left it any longer; drainage had slowed down to the point where the water level was rising up towards the overflow after washing up just a few items. 

 

I cleared out all of the stuff that I'd crammed in undersink, laid down newspaper and a big old ready meal foil tray, and started by unscrewing the trap. Boak. Raked out all the smelly, slimey, gunk from the trap and the hose. Gave it a tickle with a drain snake, and reassembled. Tried running some water - minimal effect.

 

Went at it with some caustic soda. Not good for the canal, I guess. Possibly not good for my pipes, either - they got a bit warm, but seem unscathed. A bit of improvement to drainage, not fantastic, though. Thought I'd better give the pipes a good flushing, so dumped a bucket of water into the sink and had a cup of tea and a sit-down.

 

Came back to find...a sinkful of water. Absolutely no drainage at all now. I must have dislodged a load of sludge to a point further down where it had blocked the outlet completely.

 

Out with the plunger. Not the old-school rubber cup on the end of a wooden handle, but a big plastic version with a large concertina. Gave a good old plunge and a gritty, watery sneeze came out of the overflow. Had to cover that with one hand while I tried plunging again with the other. 

 

Water running freely again. When the time comes to unblock the sink again, I think I'd probably go through the same steps again. Anyway, that's what's worked for me.

[Alan de Enfield]

I'm surprised you have a U-bend / trap on a canal boat - every boat I have had has a 'straight thru & over board' hose, no joints, no restrictions and no blockages.

 

Is a DIY fit out by someone who used to do plumbing in houses ?

[Sir Percy]

No idea. Maybe it was put in by someone with a fear of spiders.

[ditchcrawler]

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I'm surprised you have a U-bend / trap on a canal boat - every boat I have had has a 'straight thru & over board' hose, no joints, no restrictions and no blockages.

 

Is a DIY fit out by someone who used to do plumbing in houses ?

You see U bends mentioned so often on Facebook these days I think that boat fitters are employing kitchen fitters now. 

[Sir Percy]

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

You see U bends mentioned so often on Facebook these days I think that boat fitters are employing kitchen fitters now. 

There's a u-bend fitted to the bathroom handbasin. I had to unblock that last year, and was thinking then about the u-bend; noted that it might have been tricky to fit hose from the sink back up  to the level of the skin fitting.

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, Sir Percy said:

There's a u-bend fitted to the bathroom handbasin. I had to unblock that last year, and was thinking then about the u-bend; noted that it might have been tricky to fit hose from the sink back up  to the level of the skin fitting.

That is part of the problem, you need a constant downwards slope, putting in a Trap makes it vey difficult to get the discharge a reasonable height above the waterline (recommended height for a leisure boat being 10")

[Tony Brooks]

Did you look at the outside of the hull where the waste outlet is? We occasionally found that when customers moored against muddy banks, the mud blocked the outlet.

[Sir Percy]

No, no muddy bank on that side. But you have reminded me to go and scrub off any greasy glob that I might have expelled and is now sticking to the hull.

[jonathanA]

I think one of the issues is that sink wastes are usually 1 1/4" and the skin fittings more like 3/4. on mine there is a motley assortment of adapters bits of hose and jubilee clips fitted by the previous owner, the reducing diameter of the outlet just means any 'big bits' are prone to getting stuck at one of the reductions in diameter.  good old fashioned plunger seems to do the job for me. 

[pearley]

One of these is good for pushing up the waste pipe from the outside. Do it with a tap running and you can see the muck coming out.

 

Also useful for cleaning deck drains.

 

https://www.diy.com/departments/120cm-long-flexible-radiator-cleaning-brush/5060507281079_BQ.prd?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAq4KuBhA6EiwArMAw1GAcIuTyYw3jKi_YvZ9-QZauKNoYyKnSW4GwdpZUoo6q23w47-pE-xoCqfsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edited February 5 by pearley

[LadyG]

While on the subject, my shower keeps blocking, I mean about every third usage.

It's not the pump, I've had it cleaned, etc, the fitters seem to have no answer, apparently it's a good pump.

There is a little filter in a plastic casing with a cylinder of wire which is the usual suspect. I don't think it should block so frequently,  should I remove the wire?  There is no gasket on it,  and that seems to make no difference, i have tried several gaskets, but not successfully. I have also tried plumbers silicon in case it is not sealing .

There is larger  pre filter trap, which is a big bowl and would stop gravel getting in to filter , but not cat litter (I have now moved cat litter tray).

I  use a loose shower sieve thing over the shower tray outlet.

Not sure what more I can think of, if there was a blockage at shower outlet (inacessible), then it would not ever run clear 

 

[Tony Brooks]

3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

While on the subject, my shower keeps blocking, I mean about every third usage.

It's not the pump, I've had it cleaned, etc, the fitters seem to have no answer, apparently it's a good pump.

There is a little filter in a plastic casing with a cylinder of wire which is the usual suspect. I don't think it should block so frequently,  should I remove the wire?  There is no gasket on it,  and that seems to make no difference, i have tried several gaskets, but not successfully. I have also tried plumbers silicon in case it is not sealing .

There is larger  pre filter trap, which is a big bowl and would stop gravel getting in to filter , but not cat litter (I have now moved cat litter tray).

I  use a loose shower sieve thing over the shower tray outlet.

Not sure what more I can think of, if there was a blockage at shower outlet (inacessible), then it would not ever run clear 

 

 

 

Perhaps post a photo of the pump or stare is make and model. If it is a Whale Gulper then it does not really need any sort of settlement trap or filter. So it sounds as if it might be, what is essentially, a drinking water pump, and they will clog their tiny valves and pumping chambers with hair etc. I would place little credence on the fitter's opinion because your experience has called it into question.

[pearley]

6 minutes ago, LadyG said:

While on the subject, my shower keeps blocking, I mean about every third usage.

It's not the pump, I've had it cleaned, etc, the fitters seem to have no answer, apparently it's a good pump.

There is a little filter in a plastic casing with a cylinder of wire which is the usual suspect. I don't think it should block so frequently,  should I remove the wire?  There is no gasket on it,  and that seems to make no difference, i have tried several gaskets, but not successfully. I have also tried plumbers silicon in case it is not sealing .

There is larger  pre filter trap, which is a big bowl and would stop gravel getting in to filter , but not cat litter (I have now moved cat litter tray).

I  use a loose shower sieve thing over the shower tray outlet.

Not sure what more I can think of, if there was a blockage at shower outlet (inacessible), then it would not ever run clear 

 

When we had a share in Sundowner I think I was the only one who cleaned that cylinder of wire, the filter. Was always blocked with hair.

[Higgs]

I do have a household type waste trap in the galley, in a U-bend assembly. Some people must just have bad luck, it hasn't blocked in over 12 years. The sink in the shower 'room' is a straight through drain. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

13 minutes ago, pearley said:

When we had a share in Sundowner I think I was the only one who cleaned that cylinder of wire, the filter. Was always blocked with hair.

I found that to be a weekly job when we had a share boat, now we have a filter in the plug hole

 is

40 minutes ago, pearley said:

One of these is good for pushing up the waste pipe from the outside. Do it with a tap running and you can see the muck coming out.

 

Also useful for cleaning deck drains.

 

https://www.diy.com/departments/120cm-long-flexible-radiator-cleaning-brush/5060507281079_BQ.prd?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAq4KuBhA6EiwArMAw1GAcIuTyYw3jKi_YvZ9-QZauKNoYyKnSW4GwdpZUoo6q23w47-pE-xoCqfsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is what I use 

Edited February 5 by ditchcrawler

[bizzard]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

While on the subject, my shower keeps blocking, I mean about every third usage.

It's not the pump, I'v greene had it cleaned, etc, the fitters seem to have no answer, apparently it's a good pump.

There is a little filter in a plastic casing with a cylinder of wire which is the usual suspect. I don't think it should block so frequently,  should I remove the wire?  There is no gasket on it,  and that seems to make no difference, i have tried several gaskets, but not successfully. I have also tried plumbers silicon in case it is not sealing .

There is larger  pre filter trap, which is a big bowl and would stop gravel getting in to filter , but not cat litter (I have now moved cat litter tray).

I  use a loose shower sieve thing over the shower tray outlet.

Not sure what more I can think of, if there was a blockage at shower outlet (inacessible), then it would not ever run clear 

 

Tape a patch of the green Scotch scouring pad over the drain hole in the tray, jolly good filters, or cut and roll up a length and poke it into the drain if the flange is deep enough. Will trap all the pubic hair too.

Edited February 5 by bizzard

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, pearley said:

When we had a share in Sundowner I think I was the only one who cleaned that cylinder of wire, the filter. Was always blocked with hair.

 Had the same problem on Streamline, about half the sharers would clean it (self included) the other half just left it for someone else.

 

Had similar problem to OP with kitchen sink waste, u bend was gunked up to about the diameter of a pencil, i just bought a new assembly and replaced rather than mess about, cost about £6 which i charged back to the syndicate  

 

Sharing the cost is one thing i miss from the shareboat  

[Jon57]

1 hour ago, Higgs said:

I do have a household type waste trap in the galley, in a U-bend assembly. Some people must just have bad luck, it hasn't blocked in over 12 years. The sink in the shower 'room' is a straight through drain. 

 

 

Same here. Also comes in hand when washing engine parts in the sink. The trap catches the stray bits before they are lost forever. DAMHIK 😁😁

[Bee]

4 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

Did you look at the outside of the hull where the waste outlet is? We occasionally found that when customers moored against muddy banks, the mud blocked the outlet.

Had a similar problem a few years ago. There is a variety of bee that finds holes, lays its eggs inside and then mortars up the hole. Yup, that was the little drain from the washbasin in the loo. Must have read the boats name .

[Wanderer Vagabond]

13 hours ago, Sir Percy said:

This Sunday's job: unblocking the kitchen sink. It had been put off for far too long, in the dread anticipation of the slimy grey mess that lay in wait. I couldn't have left it any longer; drainage had slowed down to the point where the water level was rising up towards the overflow after washing up just a few items. 

 

I cleared out all of the stuff that I'd crammed in undersink, laid down newspaper and a big old ready meal foil tray, and started by unscrewing the trap. Boak. Raked out all the smelly, slimey, gunk from the trap and the hose. Gave it a tickle with a drain snake, and reassembled. Tried running some water - minimal effect.

 

Went at it with some caustic soda. Not good for the canal, I guess. Possibly not good for my pipes, either - they got a bit warm, but seem unscathed. A bit of improvement to drainage, not fantastic, though. Thought I'd better give the pipes a good flushing, so dumped a bucket of water into the sink and had a cup of tea and a sit-down.

 

Came back to find...a sinkful of water. Absolutely no drainage at all now. I must have dislodged a load of sludge to a point further down where it had blocked the outlet completely.

 

Out with the plunger. Not the old-school rubber cup on the end of a wooden handle, but a big plastic version with a large concertina. Gave a good old plunge and a gritty, watery sneeze came out of the overflow. Had to cover that with one hand while I tried plunging again with the other. 

 

Water running freely again. When the time comes to unblock the sink again, I think I'd probably go through the same steps again. Anyway, that's what's worked for me.

Just as a suggestion, we've had much the same problem with a bathroom sink at my postal address pretty much since we've lived here (from 1987). The angle of the drain pipe is very shallow and regularly blocked.  In recent months we've started putting a spoonful of soda crystals (not caustic soda) into the u-bend on a regular basis, it seems to have cured the problem. I don't know how much harm a teaspoon of soda crystals is going to cause the canal, probably no more than emptying your washing-up water down the drain I would guess (but willing to be corrected).

[blackrose]

3 hours ago, jonathanA said:

I think one of the issues is that sink wastes are usually 1 1/4" and the skin fittings more like 3/4. 

 

You can get skin fittings in a variety of sizes, my sink wastes both go direct to 1 & 1/4" or is it 1 & 1/2" skin fittings, I can't remember which? Anyway reducing to 3/4" is bound to lead to blockages on gravity drained waste outlets. I'm not sure why so many people do it?

[Tracy D'arth]

Reducing pipe sizes in the direction of out is a recipe for blockages. You no longer have a level invert with concentric reduction.

I always fit traps, preferably bottle traps, to catch the things that you don't want to lose overboard, like rings, diamonds, screws, etc. 

[blackrose]

If you have enough drop between the bottom of the sink and the skin fitting to fit a trap then fine fit one, but not at the expense of getting that skin fitting 8" - 10" above the waterline. 

[bizzard]

It's not so much as the reducing of size in the waste pipe, it's not to have any blunt edged fittings screwed into each other facing uphill to the sink on which crap will quickly accumulate. Sir Nigel Gresley found this out when building his A4 class engines, compared to his older A3 class. All the steam ways he smoothed with gentle bends with no blunt ended fittings facing the regulator, it added more power and about 20mph higher speed.

[magnetman]

Both of my Boats have sink waste traps and neither of them have drain problems. Not installed by domestic plumbers. 

I regularly empty a partly full kettle of boiling water down the sink. The first cup of tea in the morning gets extra water which is run through just because it seems to make sense. 

 

Also its worth draining excess oil or fat into a jam jar and using it to make the fire more exciting. Sunflower oil is great for pyrotechnics. 

 

Pipe size is obviously rather critical as is the height above the outlet fitting which depends on the hull depth. 

 

Oil and fat in the sink is obviously an issue. I have found that a good way to clean plain cast iron frying pan is to put it in the fire for a while.