Kitchen Sink Clogged Past Trap: How to Fix It?

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Kitchen sinks getting clogged up are a natural occurrence and at some point of time, you will have to Google search on how to fix it (unless you are a plumber or have a friend who happens to be a professional plumber, then lucky you!).

If you see that your sink drains water slower than usual or it doesn’t drain at all, your initial reaction is to “call the guy”, but as a matter of fact, unclogging your drain can be as easy as pie.

With a few simple tools, it will be a painless process and you will save money by doing it yourself.

These tips can help you better understand your water pipes and also learn to do something new around the house.

You will be thankful to yourself for making your clogged drains work like new again, and then you can treat yourself with a beer and an episode of your favorite TV show!

Usually, pipes get clogged somewhere around the P-trap, which is the pipe in your pipe cabinet that looks somewhat like the letter P.

If, however, your blockage is deeper in the system, it will make things a little more difficult for you to reach it. Keep reading and you will find out how to handle even these types of blockages!

Kitchen Sink Clogged Past Trap

How do I know if my sink is clogged?

Have you noticed that your sink drains water slower than before?

If you have, then it means that even if your pipes aren’t blocked quite yet, a small blockage has formed and it will get bigger, causing your flow of water to eventually stop.

If you find standing water in your sink be sure that your kitchen sink is completely clogged and there is no postponing this issue. But how does this happen?

Well, a clog is almost always formed from food leftovers. It’s enough for one part of food to get stuck in a pipe and if it’s not washed away soon by water it will collect other parts of food that find their way there and form a solid clog.

Another sign that you might pick up on is that leftover food is floating around in standing water, or an unpleasant smell is coming from your kitchen sink.

This is why you can’t procrastinate on fixing this – the smell from a clogged drain will get a chance to spread through your kitchen, and then throughout the rest of your home.

How to prevent this?

The best answer to this question would be – “Be careful what you put in your drain”. But this is not concrete enough, is it?

Every food has the possibility of being the cause of a clogged drain, but there are some which are more troublesome than others:

  • coffee grounds – they have a tendency to get stuck in a pipe because it stays solid
  • grease – it can easily collect more food and create a solid clog faster
  • meat – especially the greasier kind
  • cheese – it can spread and fasten the process of creating a clog
  • hair – this is not food but should be on the list so you know you should watch out for it, the shower drain isn’t the only drain that can get clogged by hair

Best drain cleaner for garbage disposals

You should always avoid allowing these things to go into your drain and here’s how:

  • Collect them and put them in a can or cardboard milk container and throw it in the garbage can later
  • Use a drain-grate to stop unwanted particles from going down the drain. You can look at your local plumbing supply store and see all kinds of drain-grates now, so for sure you will find one that is perfect for your sink!
  • After each use of the sink you can pour boiling water down the drain. This can immediately help with prevention of food getting stuck, so if you want to be proactive this is an awesome method that your pipe system will thank you for!

Kitchen Sink Clogged Past Trap: How can I fix it?

p-trap

  • Throw a handful of baking soda in your drain, leave it there for a couple of minutes and wash it down with boiling water. Baking soda is great when it comes to cleaning your pipes because it also washes out the foul stench, but it’s not as dangerous as chemical drain cleaners.
  • Put white vinegar and let it be for 30 minutes. The acidic reaction will bite out the leftover food and then you can pour hot water in your pipes to make sure everything is clean as it should be.
  • You can also mix white vinegar and baking soda just to be sure that you’ve done everything you can before moving on to fixing this problem with tools. Put this mix in your drain and pour boiling water over it a couple of times.
  • This is the commonly seen solution for this issue – use a plunger. Place the lips of the plunger around the sink so that they stick completely, push it up and down about ten times and you will hear when your clog is sucked out successfully.
  • Unscrew your P-trap and see if you find the blockage in it, just be careful when doing so since water can spread all over. To avoid that have a large enough bucket close by. If you haven’t found the clog there then it is probably past the trap, and you will need some tools to get it out.
  • Use a plumber’s snake (also called drain auger), a tool that has further reach than a plunger and is used to either pull the clog out of the pipes or to push it down ahead. If you don’t have one at home you can easily find them online or in a plumbing-supply store.
  • You don’t have a plumber’s snake and want to create a tool for unclogging sinks out of something everyone has in their house? Lucky for you, a coat hanger wire can be used for this! Simply stretch it out so it can reach the clog that is trapped inside the pipe and either pull it out or push is further into the sewers.
  • Lastly, don’t forget you can always use drain cleaners meant for kitchen sinks.

sink-plunger

Final Word: On Clogged Kitchen Sinks Past P-Trap

Most people don’t know how to do basic work that needs to be done in order for their home to function normally. One of those tasks is to fix a kitchen sink that is clogged.

Before you call a professional and pay money for this service, give these tips a try and see for yourself how much you are able to accomplish by yourself. If after all these tips haven’t fixed your drain, then the problem is more complex and you should call a professional service.

All in all, this task is not rocket science and most of you should be able to do this on your own. Sooner or later every kitchen sink gets clogged and this problem occurs.

It’s almost impossible to keep it safe from everything and one little mistake is enough for one piece of food or hair to find its way down there and make room for more.

Don’t panic if you see standing water in your sink with floating pieces of food. Relax, take this article, read it from the top and apply the solutions. Believe in yourself, you can handle this!

Marco
Marco
Meet Marco, a lifelong tinkerer and DIY enthusiast, developed a passion for plumbing after fixing a leaky faucet in his own home. Years later, he turned that passion into a thriving business, Amarco Plumbing, where he shares his knowledge and expertise with the community.