My Old House

Greetings All !

I’m a few days behind in posting this.  But, for the record, I wanted to report two “honey-do’s” that I had to tackle last week:

1)  Garbage Disposal clogs — We had two recent events with the garbage disposal stopping on us.  The first was resolved with a quick press of the reset switch at the bottom of the unit.  My wife swore that she tried that.  Well, I manually rotated the blades around a bit before trying.  Maybe that had something to do with why the reset switch worked for me and not her.

But with the second incident, the reset switch wouldn’t do anything.  I heard the low hum of the motor when I flipped the switch, but no motion.  I was very busy at the time, so I let the problem sit for a couple of days.  Eventually, when I tried flipping the switch again, I heard no noise at all, which really put fear in my heart !

So, I did what I usually do in situations like this:  I searched Google!

And yes, I found a page describing the top common problems for garbage disposals.  It said I should take an Allen wrench and put it in the bottom center hole on the disposal unit… and wiggle it back-and-forth.  I did this.  At first, it sure was jammed / hard to move.  But within a few seconds it freed up.  So that definitely told me that that had been the problem.   I flipped the power switch and the disposal started grinding away again!   I then congratulated myself on extending the life of that rather old-looking disposal unit.

 

2) Basement Drain Issue — The other day, my wife came upstairs and told me that the floor drain next to the washing machine was backing up.  This was at about 9 PM, so I sighed, and told her in rather strong words to do absolutely nothing.

She, of course, wanted to get the laundry done then-and-there, but I insisted she just leave it alone.

You see, I took the cover off of that drain about a year ago, because it was all “gunked up”.  I cleaned it off, but then I realized just how old and rusty that drain cover was.  I set it aside, intending to replace it.

However, stupid me, I didn’t.

I knew this would probably require “snaking” the drain, but I had to try a few things myself. 

I had some sulphuric acid left over from a previous minor plumbing issue at our old house.  I poured that down the drain and waited until morning.

However, the next day, we still had water sitting there.  So, I drudged out my old hand-powered snake.  I took off the drain clean-out plug.  Immediately, all the standing water drained!   Now, I’m certainly a dummy when it comes to plumbing, but that seemed to eliminate the theory that the plug in the line was down near where our pipe met the street!   This evidence seemed to suggest that the problem was within the first three feet of pipe from the drain.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to fit my hand-cranked snake through the “elbow” of the drain.  (I did manage to send all 25 feet of it easily down through the clean-out hatch, again supporting my theory that our clog was in that “elbow” of drain.)

So, reluctantly, I phoned Roto-Rooter.  This was at about 9 AM.  They said that the dispatcher would call me with an ETA within 2-3 hours.  Well, 11:45 AM rolled around and finally we got the call that he’d be on-site in 15 minutes.   30 minutes later, he actually arrived.

However, I was surprised that I actually recognized the plumber!  His name was Dan and he goes to our church.  But he was somebody whom I’d never really spoken with.   He recognized me as well and described how he had just been hired by Roto-rooter and that he was going to school at night while working full-time.

Within a few seconds of looking at the situation, he said that I’d need to replace the entire “P-valve” (that elbow-shaped pipe that includes the drain opening).  He said there was no way to snake it.  He even pointed to the fact that there was a small (1/2 inch?) hole in the side of that pipe, near the drain lip.

Dan said they’d have to jack-hammer the concrete around that drain, remove it, and then replace it.  He phoned another plumber and then told me that that person would be coming out to give an estimate for repairs.

I was a bit upset about it, but not angry.  I ballparked this repair at $1000.

But then I had to leave for a meeting at work.  While I was at that meeting, my wife called (around 4 PM) to say that the plumber was there…. and that he could snake the P-valve for a cost of $105 !!   I was surprised at this, but of course, quickly said “yes”!

When I got home and talked this over with my wife, it turns out that this was NOT plumber #2 who had come out… but, rather, plumber #1, Dan!

I’m guessing that he must have talked with somebody more experienced, discovered one COULD snake that P-valve, and then came back and did what was in our best interest !!

My wife is now happily doing laundry…. (well, maybe not HAPPILY).

And I’m going to buy not only a replacement drain cover, but also some little wire mesh “socks” that I’ve heard you can put over your washing machine’s output pipe, to act as a filter.  Suppossedly, they cost something like 50 cents each at WalMart or Sears.

(Been busy working 12-hour shifts, so I haven’t gotten to the store yet to purchase those.)

Still, this issue does point to the fact that eventually, I will have to completely replace that drain / P-valve.

 

Gotta run.  Lots to do today.

 

Thanks!

 

-= Dave =-