The Titanic Tale of Avish vs. the Kitchen Sink Clog!

Have you ever just been so sure you knew what the solution to a problem was that you fixated on that solution, only to discover that you would have been better off being a little more open minded? I have…

I recently posted about my experience going to Lowe’s to buy a pipe snake to unclog my kitchen sink. I did not however, recount how the mighty “Avish vs. Clog” story turned out. It had an interesting resolution to it, and I think there is a good lesson to be learned from it.

If you don’t remember that post and/or are too lazy to go read it, here’s a quick recap of the situation: I was cooking dinner. I discovered that my kitchen sink was clogged. This had happened before and it cost me over $200 to have a plumber fix it. Not wanting to pay that again, I decided I would attempt to fix it myself.

This is where things get a little interesting. You see, when it happened before, the plumber came out and snaked my drain (get your mind out of the gutter, smartass). I of course now assumed it was the same, or similar, problem, and that I would have to snake the drain myself. So I did what any intellectual who’s not good at fixing things would do: I looked up “how to snake a drain” on the internet!

I came across lots of good articles and some good videos, and frankly, they made it look pretty simple. In addition, I came across a few other simple solutions that people suggested I try first:

1. Check the “P” Trap – There’s a curved pipe under the sink that creates a seal that keeps your home from smelling like sewage. This is also a place where clogs can commonly occur. But at the moment, checking the trap seemed like a lot of work. And I was eager to go out and buy a snake, because that’s what I knew I needed to do to fix the problem.
2. Run the garbage disposal for 1-2 minutes – This made no sense to me. Last time the problem was much deeper down the drain. The disposal just churned the water in the sink. Even though I knew this wouldn’t do anything, I ran the disposal for thirty seconds or so, and just like I suspected, nothing happened. (See how smart I was there? Ah hubris, what would we do without you?)
3. Use a sink plunger – I don’t own a sink plunger. Turns out, I don’t own a toilet plunger either, and that’s a thought that’s going to hang with me every time I go out for cheeseteaks until I get one. Besides, I knew the clog was very deep, and I figured the plunger was only good for clogs that were near the top.

Before running out to Lowe’s, I spoke with a friend who is good at this type of stuff. He also suggested that I check the P-trap. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the problem, but I figured I may as well check before spending time and money. I pulled out a wrench and dismantled the trap, and sure enough, it was completely clean. I also ran some water through the garbage disposal, just to make sure there was nothing caught in there. There was not.

I was now fully reinforced in my belief that only a pipe snake could solve this problem! So I went to Lowe’s (over Home Depot, and where I met man who was talking to himself), bought my snake, and returned home eager to fix my problem.

Things did not go quite as planned…

Attempt #1: I start feeding the snake into the pipe, navigating the pipe’s twists and turns as best I can. Finally, I get to a point where the snake will go no further. Ah ha! I must be at the clog. I work this clog for quite a while, but no luck getting through it. At this point it has been about an hour or so, and since I am entering the pipe from under the kitchen sink, I am hunched over and getting very sore. I decide to throw in the towel for the evening, and try again the next day.

Attempt #2: I did some more internet research on how to use the snake (that whole “intellectual” thing, remember – we like to read about how to do stuff more than we like to actually do it…). With renewed hope I re-attack the drain. But I get stuck at the same point. After about another hour of attempting, I throw in the towel again, wondering if I will ever be able to fix this myself.

Attempt #3: A little more research reveals that sometimes the snake can turn the wrong way and bump into a grating or something. This is a disturbing thought, as I have no idea whether I am turning the right way. But I need to try one more time. Again, I work for close to an hour. I get it to the point where it usually gets stuck. I am slowly working it, twisting the snake, when all of the sudden, my snake gets a kink in it! (mind. out. of. the. gutter. please…) This now makes the snake unusable to go any further than this point.

Saddened, I admited defeat. I need to call in professional help. Unfortunately, I am entering a six day stretch where I will not be around to let a plumber in to my condo.

My sink was still draining very slowly, so I figure at the very least I can do the dishes that have been piling up by doing them in batches. Wash a batch until the sink fills it, let it drain over a few hours, and then do another batch, and so on and so on.

I do this for one batch in the evening, and then another batch the next morning. Unfortunately, when I came that evening I found that the sink had not drained at all! My slowly draining sink had turned into a completely stopped up sink. Now I felt like I was going to go away the next morning with a load of undone dishes and a sink full of water. Not good. Not good.

In desperation, and willing to try anything, I revisited some of the earlier suggestions. Namely, the “run the garbage disposal for 1-2 minutes” one. I flip on the disposal and let it run for a while. Guess what happened next.

Ready for it?

Yup. All of the sudden, before we had even hit the two minute mark, I hear a short “gurgle” noise and the sink starts to drain! I stared in disbelief for a moment or two. Then I turned off the disposal, turned on the water, and let the it run for a couple of minutes. Sure enough, it continued to drain just fine.

Oh. My. God.

Do you mean to tell me that I could have just taken two minutes the first time and ran the disposal and this problem would have been fixed? If not, would the sink plunger have done the trick? If I had just listened to the advice of people who knew and let the disposal run for longer than the token 30 seconds I did on my first attempt, I could have saved $25 for the snake and close to 5 hours of time, all together? Really?

Talk about feeling like an idiot.

I realize that it’s possible that all my snaking loosened things up or created a situation where the suctions created by the disposal would be enough to clear the clog. But I’ll never know…

There are important lessons here:

Make No Assumptions About Solutions!

When you have a solution in mind, you find evidence to support that solution. I was certain that I would need to use a pipe snake. As such, I discounted solutions that didn’t need one. I was also quick to see evidence that said, “yes, you need to use a pipe snake here.”

Make No Assumptions About Problems!

When this problem happened before, the plumber claimed that the clog was 50 feet or so down my drain. So I naturally assumed that this would be the same situation. Based on one past experience I assumed I knew exactly what the problem was, even though I had no clue.

Follow a Process!

Most problems with an uncertain cause have solutions that follow a process from easiest to hardest, and from cheap to expensive. If you are going to tackle a problem yourself, follow that process fully! Don’t jump steps because you think you know better. It may seem like a pin in the ass when you think you no the problem and the solution, but a step by step method of checking things in order of difficulty can ultimately save you a lot of time, energy, and money.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go run my kitchen sink for five minutes. Just because I can…