Kitchen Sink Not Draining in Sandwich, MA? Try These Fixes First

Why kitchen sinks clog

Kitchen drains handle the worst of what a home sends down: fats, oils, coffee grounds, starchy food and soap. Grease cools inside the pipe and coats the wall. Each wash adds a thin layer of food that sticks to it, until the opening is a fraction of its original size.

A slow sink is usually a buildup problem, and a sink that will not drain at all is a plug on top of that buildup. The first step is to learn where the blockage sits.

Start with the easy stuff

Remove standing water with a cup if you need to work in the basin. Clear the strainer and drain opening of visible debris. If you have a garbage disposal, check for a jam by turning it off and using the hex wrench slot underneath to free the blades.

Then try a cup plunger. Cover the overflow opening with a wet rag so the pressure goes down the drain, and use steady strokes. In a double sink, plug the other basin first. Many sink clogs clear in a few minutes.

What to do before you try anything

A few precautions prevent a small clog from becoming a bigger problem.

• Do not mix chemical drain cleaners. The fumes can be dangerous.
• Wear gloves and eye protection if you work under the sink.
• Do not run the disposal if the sink is full of standing water.
• Bail out standing water before opening any trap.
• If the other drains are gurgling too, stop and call a plumber.

Clean the trap

If plunging fails, the clog is often in the P-trap, the curved pipe under the sink. Put a bucket underneath, unscrew the slip nuts by hand or with pliers, and take the trap apart. Empty it, rinse it and check the pipe stub in the wall.

Reassemble with the washers seated correctly and run water to check for leaks. A trap full of gray sludge is a clear sign your pipe is coated with grease farther down the line.

What does not work

Chemical openers can eat at old metal pipe, burn skin and fail anyway. They also leave a pool of harsh liquid in the sink for whoever works on it next.

When the problem is the main line

If water from the kitchen sink backs up into another fixture, or the basement floor drain gurgles when you run the dishwasher, the issue is further down than the sink. That is a main line or branch line problem, and a trap cleaning will not reach it.

• Dishwasher water appearing in the sink
• Gurgling from other drains
• Slow drains throughout the house
• Sewage smell near the drains

These signs call for a machine and a camera. A plumber from our team can handle it through drain cleaning, and the camera shows why the line clogged so you can fix the cause.

Double sinks, dishwashers and air gaps

Many kitchen sinks share one drain with a second basin, a disposal and a dishwasher. That layout is why a clog can show up in surprising ways. Water that rises in the second basin when you run the first means the blockage sits past the joint where the two meet.

The dishwasher drain hose connects either to the disposal or to the sink tailpiece, often through a loop or an air gap. A kinked or clogged hose sends gray water back into the basin. If water from the dishwasher is the only thing backing up, check the hose and the disposal inlet before blaming the main line.

A newly installed disposal sometimes has a knockout plug left in the dishwasher inlet, which blocks the drain from day one. A plumber can find and remove it in a minute.

Keep the kitchen drain clear

Scrape plates into the trash before washing. Pour cooled grease into a jar or can, and put it out with the garbage. Use a sink strainer to catch food. Run hot water for a few seconds after dishes so the soapy water carries further down the pipe.

If you use a disposal, run it with cold water and avoid feeding it large amounts of potato peels, rice, pasta or coffee grounds. These swell or pack together in the line.

A yearly cleaning of a drain that has had trouble before is cheaper than an emergency call. If the line keeps filling, ask about hydro jetting, which scours the pipe wall instead of poking a hole through it.

One more habit helps more than any product. Once a week, run very hot tap water down the drain for a minute after the dishes are done. It will not dissolve a plug, but it keeps fresh grease moving and gives you an early warning, because a drain that suddenly takes longer to clear is telling you to act before the sink fills.

Frequently asked questions