So I have a rather long story about my kitchen sink. I moved into my house about a year ago. From the time I moved in I've wanted to move the kitchen sink to be in front of the window because to me that's where it makes the most sense. I'm on a slab concrete foundation so I knew the "right" way to do this was to have someone come out and jackhammer up the concrete and move it over to where I wanted it. After hearing the price to move it about 9 feet I decided there was no way I was going to do it that way. I decided I was going to DIY it and go through my studs. It is on an exterior wall, but before everyone grills me about it freezing, I will take the proper measures to make sure that doesn't happen before I put the drywall back. So I cut all the studs and get the pipes in and glue them up and run it. I had about a months worth of dishes piled up so it took me a good hour to do them all. 30-40 minutes in not a single leak and its draining like a champ. Well I look in the corner at one my sweep elbow joints and its got a drop of water on the paper towel I put under all the joints so I could see the leak. After about 10 more minutes another drop. I decided any drop was too many so I cut it out and put a new elbow on. This time something happened to were it wouldn't drain. I looked at the pipe coming off my p trap and it looked to somehow be on a incline. I don't know how it happened but I know water doesn't like to travel up hill so I cut that out and redo it. After my third attempt I turn the water on and it drains properly for about 10 seconds then starts to fill up. After the water is shut off it doesn't take long for it to catch up and drain it so it is draining it. I can't figure out why it's draining so slow everywhere I look it appears to have enough slope. I know the question will come up about venting. It has a vent next to the drain location. I thought about this being the issue but the first time I had it going before I got the tiny leak it seemed to drain just fine. Please if anyone has any tips or suggestions on why this might be happening I would greatly appreciate them.
Kitchen sink drain won't drain.
- Thread starter Gr8Sl8
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I'm not a plumber, but I've found that sometimes posting photographs of your plumbing can help the experts to spot problems.
Are you able to take a picture from different angles and post it so people can take a look and see if they spot something wrong?
Hopefully someone will be able to help you then.
Edit: I starting posting this before I saw IFIXH2O's post.
Are you able to take a picture from different angles and post it so people can take a look and see if they spot something wrong?
Hopefully someone will be able to help you then.
Edit: I starting posting this before I saw IFIXH2O's post.
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I did take them I tried to upload them the first time but they didn't work. I'll try it again. I think IFixH20 might be on to it. I'm going to try an air admittance under and see if it helps. IFixH20 are you saying I can only go so far with my slope? Or that the only issue being is my vent is just flat out too far from my p trap?
I forgot to reply, but keep in mind that AAV's (air admittance valves) have to be accessible as there can be mechanical failure, and not all jurisdictions even allow them. They violate code in some places.
IFIXH2O, I know it would take time, but could you list the no nos? I'm curious.
IFIXH2O, I know it would take time, but could you list the no nos? I'm curious.
I'm curious at the nono's also. The air admittance valve will be right under the sink and have access to it. It's not against code and they are used frequently here. I talked to a very experienced plumber who's in the pipe fitters union. He told me to do the air admittance vent. He said it should work just fine I showed him the pictures, his only concern was how long of a run it is they are prone to clog. Another plumber said it looked good he was more so concerned with how many couplings I used. He thought it would have been better to cut out the wood and use a long pipe and restructure the studs. Neither of them sounded to concerned though.
I will agree with the other plumbers about the run is too long and the uses of too many ferncos & short pieces of pipe, but if that's all they said, then I say WOW. No mention of the J.Guest push fit fitting inside the wall - No pipe strapping (water lines will have movement) - The pvc sweep in the corner looks like no cleaner/primer was used unless clear was used - The drain line appears to run up & down hill at the 2nd stud to the left of cabinet - We use band coupling inside of closed walls and we would have used a pvc no hub adapter to transition the pipe - No stud guards - The 1 1/2'' plastic nut at the basket strainer is prone to leak.
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I haven't put the guards on yet. That's all. It appears to go up and downhill but it's just the picture. It does have a point where it doesn't go downhill as much. It is clear primer on the sweep I accidentally kicked my purple primer over. And yes that plastic nut does leak. The guy at Lowe's swore to me it wouldn't. I'm going to switch that out I didn't glue it for that reason. Can you show me what the band couplings look like and the no hub adapter? Why the pipe straps on the water lines? Is it to prevent them from rattling around. If that's the case they don't make any noise. Keep in mind that I can always fix these things. I didn't put up the drywall for a reason.
In my opinion that drain is too far from your vent, I'd recommend you don't use an AAV. Your wall is already open, cut up a few more feet and cut in a t wye upside down in your vent and bring it over a few feet so that you don't exceed your 6' max. Your probably only long 2-3 ft anyways. Reason you secure water lines isn't for aesthetics, it's so your pipes don't sag and aren't stressed. You might think it's ok but it's not what you want to be doing. If that's loose it's opening up an opportunity for them to fail.
I'm guessing the J.Guest push fittings are the black rubbery looking things with some sort of clamp? I saw those and thought those might possibly leak if there is too much pressure and that having them leak inside a wall might be pretty bad.
Don't AAV's only handle negative pressure? I wonder if a PAPA (positive air pressure attenuator) would work with that as well... But I do think that if an actual vent can be put in without too much expense, it might be better.
Gr8sl8, I hope the advice here can help you out. I know it can suck having to change things once you've put the work in. It's good that you are at least trying to do some stuff and that you are willing to learn about the plumbing stuff.
The black rubber things are ferncos which are meant for drains since it's not high pressure. J Guests are the couplings and elbows and valves on my water lines. I didn't know there was anything wrong with using them... Steve is it too late to still add the pipe straps or did I put them in the wrong place so I have no where to strap to? I want to make this right before I secure up this wall. Just a peace of mind that I'm not leaking behind my wall that would be a disaster.
Ahh. Ok. I wasn't sure what the black things were called. I guessed wrong. LOL.
I'm no expert, but I imagine it might not be too late to add the straps so long as you can get them secured to prevent sagging and movement.
Your drain also decreases in size. Also a big no no. You have 1 1/2 pvc going to what looks like 1 1/4 copper.
You can still strap it. Honestly without getting into too much detail where it seems to move quite a bit, strap it or secure it. You can buy clips or strapping at Home Depot, I'd suggest you get clips and try to buy copper ones for the copper and plastic for the plastic piping. And Matt he didn't reduce sizes 1 1/2 copper equal 1 1/4 OD of plastic and what not and since you used a Fernco to adapt to the copper that proves to me it's not 1 1/4 cause you can't even use a 1 1/4 Fernco to adapt to copper it's way too small.
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I didnt notice the markings on the fernco. Oopsie!
No worries haha copper is hard to judge especially from a photo
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