Clogged Old Drains..sheesh!

[tolivac]

Gansky:-to meet the problems of the low-flo spigots-dispoer makers are going to have to design their machines to shred the waste finer so it will flow down the smaller pipes with the lower water flow.Again finer shredders and undercutters are needed.ISE machines leave too coarse of a discharge-large bone pieces and stringy peices from peelings-they need undercutters.Had to clean the grease trap of in a pipe that an ISE machine discharged into-was a rats nest in there.

 

[compactc9]

A rats nest!?!?

Thats disgusting!

 

[tolivac]

The material-partially shredded fruit-veg peels-the fibers of them formed what LOOKED like a rats nest in the plumbing.Drain worked more freely when the stuff was removed-that was the disgusting part!

 

[kenmore1978]

disposal cleaning tricks

" Last month the wife poured a 1/2 quart of used cooking oil down the kitchen drain and now the drain in there is very slow. We have used Drano Crystals, etc. everything we could think of without having to call the plumber. Before she did this the drain was very fast acting. Any ideas how to remedy this?"

Boil 2-3 large pots of water on the range. Pour them down the disposal while it's running after the last use for the night, followed by chlorine bleach or Liuid Plumber (which is actually a mixture of bleach and sodium hydroxide (lye)on the non-disposal side.

Used cooking grease can either be put in a can and thron out,or, what I do is take 2-3 plastic and paper shopping bags, stuff them inside one another, then pour in the grease and throw it out after folding. Be sure and check the plastic bags for holes.

 

[kenmore1978]

insufficient water

"With newer, low-flow faucets, much less water is going down the drain than it seems. Most have a flow rate of 2.5 gpm. That isn't much water to flush away large quantities of food waste let alone carry away bone shards."

I always remove the flow restrictor on my kitchen faucet for that very reason. For people who don't want to do that, another trick is to fill the sink with water, thrown your garbage into it until your done, then pull the stopper and switch on the disposer

The ice cube trick is for deodorizing. Grinding citrus peels will do the same thing, and there are cleaners that one can buy at the store for cleaning your disposal

 

[tolivac]

If you do use citrus peels to clean and deordorizing,make sure they are completely shredded and gone-If any bits of them remain-they will corrode non-SS metal parts of your disposer-the peels are complely safe for all SS disposers.I can go along with taking out the flow restrictor in the kitchen sink faucet used with a disposer-you need the water flow to wash away the "shreddings"the ice trick works well-used it while defrosting an older fridge-threw the ice peices in the sink and used them to clean the disposer.Worked really well!That disposer sure made a good ice crusher!Was an old "Bus-Boy" in an apartment building.

 

[whirlcool]

Watch Out!

We worked on the kitchen drain with the oil. We used the hot water trick and the bleach. It improved things, but not that much. So the wife came home from the local Walmart with a plunger that looked very industrial. It had lots of bellows on it. So I poured more Drano crystals in the drain and let it sit for about 30 minutes and then rinsed the drain. No improvement, so I used the plunger and with a mighty woooosh the drain cleared! Then I figured if that worked well on the side opposite from the disposer why don't I try this on the disposer side.
Well, I put some water in the sink and did the plunging trick.
Did I get the surprise of my life! A huge geyser of water flew up our of the OTHER side of the sink, all over my face and it even hit the ceiling over the sink! I immediately thought of the Drano in the drain, ran to the bathroom to rinse off. Fortunately, the Drano had all rinsed away. But the thought of all that bacteria in the drain pipes, Yuck!
I condidered myself VERY lucky. I could have been really burned by those chemicals.
Has anyone else ever had something like this happen?

 

[kenmore1978]

Drano

and other drain openers warn about plunging while they are in use. The longer it sits, the better they work. That's why it's best to let things sit at least overnight.

 

[kenmore1978]

Industrial plunger

What you got is the type of plunger used to plunge toilets. It can also be used to plunge sinks if there's enough room in the sink for it to fit, and that a flap inside the mouth of plunger is folded inward. This flap is pulled out when plunging toilets so it can fit the various shapes of the holes in toilets.

 

[drmitch]

Somebody else may have already said this, but I was told to put ice cubes in the disposer to clean it.

 

[bethann]

Hi Allen

If you got one side clear, then the main drain is clear. Open up the doors under the sink, the two drain pipes are connected. Take the pipe off the disposal side and clean it out.

 

[hoover1060]

bones and ice cubes

With regard to feeding the disposal bones, I've fed mine chicken bones, smallish pork chop bones, and occasionally rib bones. Yes you may have to cover the disposers mouth when grinding bones, I have an ISE PRO77 model, and I get bone schrapnel sometimes.
Steak bones and larger bones no. Too large
The bone pieces will scour the disposal an pipes very well.

Ice cubes: Will also clean and freshen a disposal, what I do is drop a handfull of cubes down and hit the switch, without the water running. when I can see the ice has been chewed to snow, I stopper the drain and run 2-3 inches of water in the sink, then remove the stopper and let the water run thru the disposal.

 

[whirlcool]

Both sides of the sink are now running like new again. I really appreciate all the assistance you all have offered.