Slow draining sink - SOLVED!

BrianSmith said:

The sink in the Master - the one where all of the toothbrushing and shaving occur, the one with all the gunk that isn't just water going through it - has drained slowly almost since we bought the boat 2+ years ago. We've tried white vinegar a couple of times, but with not much success.

Yesterday, Fran (the brains of the operation) found this solution on some website somewhere, and it worked perfectly, the very first time! So, in the spirit of giving back to TF (I feel like I'm always taking), here you go:

Crunch up 2 Alka-Seltzer tablets and put them into the drain. (Small enough that the pieces all fall out of sight down the drain.) Pour in 1 cup of distilled white vinegar. Let that sit for long enough to heat a kettle of water to steaming (but not boiling). When it's hot, pour it down the drain, a couple of cups at a time, with a 10 - 20 second pause between pours.

One treatment, and the drain is flowing like Niagara Falls! Yay!

Click to expand...

sdowney717 said:

An overboard drain?
Another solution, get a rubber hose drain cleanout bladder. You screw it onto the hose end, push into the drain, and turn on the hose to flush it out with lots of pressure. This also works decently on your house.

Click to expand...

Russell Clifton said:

Here is another solution. Just do a real rough crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound. The water that is forced backwards up the discharge hose will push all the gunk back up into the sink. Works like a champ and only took about 5 hours to complete!!

Click to expand...

FF said:

ACE hardware and others sell a toothed plastic strip that is simply pushed down from the sink.

On retraction it will bring up clogs .

Stows really easy .$2.00 or so.

Click to expand...

sdowney717 said:

An overboard drain?
Another solution, get a rubber hose drain cleanout bladder. You screw it onto the hose end, push into the drain, and turn on the hose to flush it out with lots of pressure. This also works decently on your house.

Click to expand...

slowandsteady said:

Silly me, I would have just taken it all apart and cleaned it out.
Not to be taken as a wise assed reply, but I take everything apart. Sometimes more than once.....

Click to expand...

Solly said:

It's not the taking it apart, it's getting it back together w/o extra pieces....

Click to expand...