Yay! Go Me!

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In our bathroom we have a suite which I think must date from the 1970s, complete with gold-coloured taps. Not my favourite but there’s nothing wrong with it so I can’t bring myself to change it all for no real reason; not very environmentally-friendly. Anyway the washbasin has a pop-up plug which works via two interconnected levers. About a year ago one of the levers snapped (mainly I think because the mechanism had got gunked up with lime-scale, making it difficult to move) and I wasn’t able to find a replacement part in any of the local plumbers’ merchants or hardware stores. So for several months we have been making do by using a regular rubber plug. The problem was that since the pop-up plug operated from underneath, there was no grid in the drain-hole as there would be if the basin was designed to have a regular plug, so any small thing that fell in the basin would just disappear straight down the hole. I tried to prevent this by using one of those little plastic grids that sits over the hole, but it was a bit of a nuisance remembering to replace it each time the plug was removed and keep swapping between the two, and everyone else didn’t always do so. For several weeks now the drain from the basin seemed to be getting slower and slower and finally, last week, it stopped completely. My partner, convinced that the pipe had become clogged with soap (how?) bought some heavy-duty drain-clearing gel and poured in half the bottle, which just sat there for several days while we had to wash our hands and clean our teeth over the bath. Finally yesterday I had a chance to try and sort it out so I donned my overalls and collected every tool I thought I might need. Then I had to siphon the drain-cleaner out of the basin and rinse it thoroughly several times before turning off the water. Then it was a case of squeezing into the corner of the bathroom with a wrench. I was afraid this might be really difficult and all the joints would have seized up, but in fact the water pipes and the drain pipes all came apart really easily. Under the basin there was a sort of S-shaped trap which appeared to be completely blocked. I thought I would have to buy a new part but first I took it outside and poked it with a stick then rinsed and scrubbed it with water from the water-butt. Turned out there was nothing wrong with it, but it was completely blocked by a spherical bottle-top which was practically the exact diameter of that part of the drainpipe. That was enough to almost block the drain completely, but the addition of the head of a disposable razor plus a few bits of fluff and other gunk sealed the job. Once I’d got it out and given it all a good scrub it was as good as new, so I put it all back again and amazingly, none of the joins leaked when I turned the water back on so it all went smoothly. To finish the job I managed to find an obscure online retailer selling replacement sets of rods for pop-up wastes so I’ve just fitted those and hey presto, all back in full working order again. So I’m feeling very smug and pleased with myself today! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2016.