What it usually means
| Grease in the horizontal line | The pipe behind the wall runs nearly flat. Fat that goes down warm cools there and builds up a little with every wash. Drains slowly for months, then stops. |
|---|---|
| A blocked trap | The bend under the sink is full of sludge or has caught something. The sink stops suddenly, often after something was dropped. |
| The garburator side | On a double sink, a jammed or blocked garburator backs water into the other bowl. See garburator humming and not draining. |
| The dishwasher pushing into it | If the sink fills when the dishwasher drains, the blockage is past the point where they join. |
| A shared line in a condo or townhouse | If your sink fills when you have not used it, a neighbour's water is coming up from a blocked shared line. That is the strata's pipe. See strata and commercial. |
What to check yourself
- If you have a garburator, run cold water and switch it on. If it hums and does not turn, switch it off: that is the problem.
- On a double sink, block one drain with a wet cloth and plunge the other with a flat-bottomed cup plunger. Without blocking the second bowl you are only pushing air.
- Put a bucket under the trap, unscrew the two slip nuts by hand and empty it. If the trap was full, clean it, refit it and test.
- If the trap is clean and the sink still will not drain, the blockage is in the wall. A short hand snake reaches a few feet. Most kitchen clogs are further than that.
- Skip boiling water on a full blockage. It sits in the sink and cools. It can also soften plastic pipe and fittings.
Stop and call a plumber if
- Water comes up in the sink when you are not using it
- The trap is clean and it still will not drain
- You have already poured drain cleaner in. Tell us when you book: it changes how we open the pipe
- Water is leaking into the cabinet
Call 1-800-604-0631, any hour.
What fixing it costs
Clearing a kitchen sink is a flat price: from $329. That covers running a machine cable through the line from under the sink or from a cleanout, and testing it with a full sink of water. What a sink clog costs and why.
Heavy grease that a cable only pokes a hole through is a job for hydro jetting, which scours the pipe wall. We will tell you if we think you need it and why. Those are regular-hours prices (9 to 5, Monday to Friday). Outside those hours every price is double. Each covers up to 2 hours on site, and the drain is tested in front of you before we leave.
Keeping it clear
- Wipe pans with paper towel before washing. Fat goes in the green bin, not the sink.
- Run hot water for twenty seconds after washing up, to carry what is in the pipe to the bigger line.
- Coffee grounds, rice and pasta do not belong in a garburator. They settle and swell in the pipe.
- A strainer in the drain costs a few dollars and stops most of it.
Questions people ask
Why does my kitchen sink keep blocking every few months?
A cable punches a hole through grease but leaves the rest on the pipe wall, so it closes over again. If it comes back on a schedule, the line needs jetting or it has a belly or a bad slope that holds water. A camera inspection shows which.
Is it safe to use drain cleaner on a kitchen sink?
It rarely gets through a full grease blockage, and then you have a sink full of caustic water. If you have used it, do not plunge, and tell the plumber before they open the trap.
Whose problem is it in a condo?
The pipe inside your unit up to the shared line is usually yours. The shared line is usually the strata's. Your bylaws decide. If more than one unit is affected, call the strata or property manager first.