OT: How Dad saved Christmas aka Don't Use a Plunger

[Yardigan]

PSA: The day before Thanksgiving, I peeled about a dozen potatoes and put the peels in the garbage disposal, which of course, clogged right up. No problem, I thought, I have a plunger. So, I plunged that biotch, upon which the pipes under the sink busted with enough force to blow the doors open, It was a beautiful mess of potato peel water everywhere. And, to fix up the pipes, a nice hefty $300 plumber bill.

Today, I peeled a bunch of carrots and put a boatload of peels into the disposal, because, sometimes I'm just not a fast learner, and of course...clogged it right up. But, this time, the cash money part of my brain kicked in and I figured...there has to be a way to get through this without ripping out the plumbing and paying someone else to replace it. So, I went to that modern miracle of genius - the google - and found this...

Folks, give it a try, it really works...

 

[Adios]

Also works for clogged sinks.

 

[polycom]

Wait were you running your garbage disposal while you were putting things into it? Or did you just load it up and assume the garbage disposal could handle all of those things?

 

[Husky25]

Baking soda and vinegar has a lot of uses.

Potato and other starchy vegetable Most food scraps should go in the compost bin.

 

[sledog]

Ah - the old 'volcano' reaction for kids - as hinted in the vodeo.

Bake soda .... Vinegar ..................................... .....Sodium acetate
NaHCo3 + HCH3CO2 --> CO2 + H2O + NaC2H2O

If you try this in the john, be sure to don a hazmat suit.

 

[Yardigan]

Wait were you running your garbage disposal while you were putting things into it? Or did you just load it up and assume the garbage disposal could handle all of those things?

B. Loaded it up and assumed it could handle. It actually made it through the disposal fine. As part of my continuing education, I did make note that, running it while putting some through at a time, instead of the whole pile...would probably be helpful.

 

[polycom]

B. Loaded it up and assumed it could handle. It actually made it through the disposal fine. As part of my continuing education, I did make note that, running it while putting some through at a time, instead of the whole pile...would probably be helpful.

Well this is good, you are learning. It would largely be fine if you had run the garbage disposal at the same time.

 

[Yardigan]

Well this is good, you are learning. It would largely be fine if you had run the dishwasher at the same time.

Yep, it's amazing what financial and time pressure can do for the learning curve...

 

[temery]

Also works for clogged sinks.

And middle school science projects.

 

[UConnDad]

Should look into composting. It's pretty popular now.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

@Yardigan How's "fix up the pipes" defined? Which specific pipes were "fix(ed) up"? If only pipes directly under your kitchen sink and connected to your disposal, does your basement or crawl space potentially still have older 2" drain pipes extending to a main trunk? If so, has the old 2" pipe ever been snaked in your time in the house?

If the preceding's been done a few times over several months, the temporary ole baking soda and vinegar solution fix-of-sorts may offer diminishing ROI over time. Eventually, you may end up truly fixing your issue by replacing old, potentially corroded 2" pipes (cast iron?) with higher-capacity 3" PVC? Good luck.

 

[jibsey]

Wow, that’s looks worth trying.

 

[Yardigan]

@Yardigan How's "fix up the pipes" defined? Which specific pipes were "fix(ed) up"? If only pipes directly under your kitchen sink and connected to your disposal, does your basement or crawl space potentially still have older 2" drain pipes extending to a main trunk? If so, has the old 2" pipe ever been snaked in your time in the house?

If the preceding's been done a few times over several months, the temporary ole baking soda and vinegar solution fix-of-sorts may offer diminishing ROI over time. Eventually, you may end up truly fixing your issue by replacing old, potentially corroded 2" pipes (cast iron?) with higher-capacity 3" PVC? Good luck.

Thanks. No, never had any other issues. Fixed up means, they re-did the connections below both sinks and the garbage disposal. That part of the house is only about 10 years old and has the big PVC pipe, I just jacked it up.

 

[Robertelamin]

Wait were you running your garbage disposal while you were putting things into it? Or did you just load it up and assume the garbage disposal could handle all of those things?

Well...when I bought my house I put half a pot roast, carrots, celery and carrots in the disposal. I didn’t know any better and then roto router charged me $300+. It was an amazing display of brown and orange in my basement.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And middle school science projects.

And Brady Bunch episodes.