We've been happily grinding things up for a week now.
Then the other day when I was making corn chowder, I was chopping and tossing. Tossing some things into the chowder, and others into the sink for grinding. And then I realized the sink was not draining. I dug around and couldn't find a culprit and kept on cooking. Figuring I'd fix it when I was done.
But it wouldn't fix. I poured Ace-brand Draino down, and nothing. I poured the other half of the bottle down and nothing. It would drain V-E-R-Y slowly and leave nasty bits in the sink.
Kind of gross. And kind of frustrating.
I should have gone and asked the management to fix it, but I'm still a little unsure how the whole process works. Do we call? What's the number? How long would it take?
Enter Joe. (My hero!)
He got under the sink. Took some pipes apart. Found the clog, the clog that would not respond to chemicals, and took care of it. Made it disappear. And had our water flowing the way it is supposed to.
What was the clog, you ask? Potato peels and egg shells.
Potato peels and egg shells? Aren't those things garbage disposals chomp up even if they won't chomp anything more challenging? Seriously!?
A post script to this story: this morning I was making eggs and opened the dishwasher so I could spray my pan with cooking spray and not get it all over the floor, and the dishwasher had stagnant water sitting in the bottom of it. And it did not smell pretty.
(Side note: we haven't been using the dishwasher because there are only two of us and it doesn't fill quickly enough to warrant using.)
So I ran the rinse cycle on the dishwasher, and the problem seems to be taken care of for now.
For now.
I'll let you know if anything changes.
7 comments:
Our first two apartments wouldn't let you send potato peels, eggshells or rice down the garbage disposal. Rice is supposed to be particularly bad. I wouldn't know why. But I don't have a garbage disposal anymore anyway. But I do love you.
That's all.
You are living and learning in Arizona!
Can I say that I'm very impressed with Joe's industry?
hmm, sounds like my apartment...
You must immediately go down to the hardware store and get a plunger to use in your sinks. It will save you the trouble of dismantling the pipes every time you get a clog. Just one of the classic-looking plungers, not the weird huge ones.
Also, a couple of disposal tips:
Always run cold water on high before putting anything in the disposal, then start the disposal (don't start it with food already stuffed down there), then put in the food a little at a time. Wait for it to clear, then put in a little more at a time until you're done. Make sure to run the cold water for 30-60 seconds after you turn off the disposal.
Sometimes pouring boiling hot water down the sink can help loosen things (same with toilets, though it's not recommended due to the wax ring--but when you're desperate, you're desperate)
At our old house, the worst thing you could do was stuff potato peels down the sink all at once, you had to go slow. If you do it right, you can grind pretty much anything from a plant (except corn husks, never, ever, ever put corn husks down the disposal).
All that said, taking apart the pipes and cleaning them is very effective, and kudos to Joe for doing it!
Same here with all those comments. Every apt we've been in with a disposal has said "no potato peels". I didn't know about the egg shells. Thanks for the heads up Harriet!
We do potato peels, egg shells and rice. We never do corn cobs. Our new one even does pineapple. I do have to cut up grapefruit.
Once the people above us in Salt Lake put corn cobs down their disposal and it came up in ours. It was a mess!
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