Clogged Kitchen Drain Line

This is Gloria.  Before you watch this video you should read the prior post about the garbage disposal.  From that post you will notice it mentions a clog.   Well I didn't realize we were so close to a potential clog when I requested the garbage disposal, but oh well.... Enjoy the video and Phillip's explanation.  I do love my husband, even if he ends up covered in filth in order to get my plumbing functional again.
XOXO





The Solution by Phillip:

We have a local tool rental location where we rented an electric sewer snake for about $30. I started at the location in the video to clear the line. The first thing I noticed was that after I started working in this section no water came out. This proved that the clog was closer to the location of the sink. But since we just installed a new garbage disposal and undersink drains I knew it was somewhere in the basement. Just for good measure I decided to continue going to clear this line just in case there is a blockage further out. After going the full length of the snake (about 50 feet) I pulled it back and to my disgust. The snake had removed tree roots. So someday in the future this line will need to be replaced, and it will be expensive.

After clearing that portion of the line I moved closer to the sink and got the kitchen drain line cleared. I then used lots of bleach and kitty litter to clean everything up. And all is well in the brown household.

photos of garbage disposal install

This is Gloria.  I wanted to make sure to give you background history to the reason we installed a garbage disposal at this particular time.
Well long story short, I was tired to trying to keep food from going down the drain all the time.  I'm use to having a garbage disposal in the houses I live in so I asked Phillip to make my Christmas present a garbage disposal.
Yeah I know all those sayings about women upset when they get new vacuums and food mixers for gifts.  But they can just dismiss those iconic sayings with me...I want things that make my life easier.  If I was at a normal full time job out of the house I think no one would be upset if I asked for a new computer to better do my job...so I have to issues asking that my gift was getting my garbage disposal even though it wasn't in our house or our gifting budget this year.
Oh and don't even let me start on how expensive this simple gift turned out to be.
One thing I can't say is that I now don't trust every craigslist ad I see out there anymore.
The next thing I'm grateful for is that I won't have clogs like we just had...but that's for another post. 
*smiles*

Gloria's Christmas Present

With Christmas rapidly approaching I asked my wife what she would like for christmas. She promptly and enthusiastically responded a GARBAGE DISPOSAL. So we hit up our favorite shopping place Craigslist.

Day 1

We found a sink with a garbage disposal for $50. Score! We were excited. Because I had just told my wife I needed a sink in the basement for when I finish working on the cars my clean up can be done there instead of the kitchen sink or her bathroom.

I bring the sink and the disposal home and promptly remove the garbage disposal from the sink. And I start preparing the electrical work under the sink. We were in luck that there was already power under the sink. I just had to relocate the electrical box. I also poked and prodded the plumbing system. A move I would soon regret.

Day 2

I get a phone call from the Lady of the house, my wife, explaining that the kitchen floor is covered in water. Turns out that my poking and prodding disturbed the fragile plumbing connections. :( So right after work I head to Lowes, a local home improvement store, to purchase the supplies needed to finish the install. We have an unusual situation in that this sink uses an air admittance valve. Also the plumbing beneath the sink look like one of the home inspection nightmares from This Old House. So I purchased a new AAV (air admittance valve), a new 1 1/2" disposal waste plumbing kit, a p-trap with a waste arm, 10 feet of 1 1/2" ABS pipe, and some other items I don't feel like listing right now.

Everything is going smoothly. I shut off the power beneath the sink, and started disconnecting the plumbing. I then installed the garbage disposal so I could line out how the plumbing would need to run. When I discovered the disposal waste plumbing kit had the wrong type of connection. But I realized this 10 minutes before Lowes closed. So I had to stop that portion.

I decided to forge ahead and get the wiring done. I decided to use a GFCI plug switch combo. Just in case in the future Gloria needed a plug beneath the sink to run a steam mop or something. I initially wired the GFCI combo incorrectly. So I turned to google to search for how to wire it correctly. Of course, it turns out I still did it incorrectly again. Then I decided to sit down and explain to my son how to wire a plug. You may not believe it but by having to explain something it forced me to not make assumptions and think critically about what I was doing.

3 minutes later everything is wired correctly and I head to the basement to turn on the power. I shouted a quick warning to my wife to be prepared with the fire extinguisher just in case in a joking manner. I turned on the power and heard a electrical hum followed by a click. I start looking over the disposal and I smell smoke. My heart falls to the pit of my stomach. You know the feeling you get when you pass a parked police car while speeding. I flick the switch killing power to the dispsoal. Thinking maybe I wired it backwards and the motor wasn't able to spin. I kill power from the circuirt breaker and reverse the wiring, press the reset button on the garbage disposal. Power back on the ciruit and again same thing hum followed by a click. Looks like our favorite shopping site delivered its first lemon.