So Todd and I were hanging out the other night when the kitchen sink clogged. The water would drain out, but only slowly. The chemical solution wasn’t working quick enough, so we decided to step it up a notch.

After some head scratching, we realized that when we turned out the garbage disposal on that the that the water level on left hand sink would drop, but the right-hand sink would rise. Ureka! The garbage disposal is, in addition to its primary function of masticating food particles, a centrifigal pump.

The problem is that it wasn’t able to build up any pressure, because there was a hole in the charge pipe (the right hand sink drain). Fix that problem and you’ve a pipe-cleaning-pump in your very own kitchen!

Instructions on turning your Garbage Disposal into a pipe cleaner

2. Fill garbage disposal side of sink with a few inches of water.
3. Plug the opposite sink drain with a stopper/plug. Most sinks come with a plug.
4. While holding the plug (to provide a tight seal) on the non-disposal side of the sink, turn on the garbage disposal.

The (now pressurized) water will have no choice but to escape via the intended route: the drain pipe.

Problem solved. Put down the Draino.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.