Kitchen Sink Plumbing

What You Need To Know About Kitchen Sink Plumbing

Everyday, we use our kitchen sink to prepare food and to wash our dishes. We rarely bother ourselves with the kitchen sink plumbing. But once our sinks are clogged, then that’s the only time we care to look down the sink.

The plumbing under our kitchen sink is as important as the sink itself. These two work together hand-in-hand and if one of them is defective, you will not be able to use the other. That’s why it is important to have a working knowledge about your under sink plumbing so that when a problem occurs, you will know what to do and not worry yourself to no end with the situation.

You need to consider that your kitchen sink plumbing is among the most important plumbing set-ups in your house. Most households use their sinks many times during the day. A faulty sink plumbing will truly adversely affect the daily activities of all members of your household. Therefore, you need to have a correct and professionally installed plumbing system under your sink. And it needs to be cared for and maintained so that they will be fully operational and functional whenever you need them. Even if you have a very elegant and stylish kitchen sink, if you don’t couple it with an efficient under sink plumbing system, it will just be a lot of waste.

Proper Maintenance of Your Kitchen Sink Plumbing
The average homeowner is not expected to know how to professionally install an under sink plumbing system, but he is expected to properly care for it so that it will always function every time he needs to use it. Here are some basic maintenance tips that will help you keep your kitchen sink plumbing working efficiently even after so many years of using it.
• Practice a regular cleaning and maintenance schedule for your sink plumbing,
• If possible, maintain the cleanliness of your sink and the sink plumbing every day.
• If you don’t have a waste disposal system or a built-in grinder under your sink, never pour food remnants especially solid ones directly into the sink.
• Every time you use the sink, see to it that no debris is included in the draining of the water.
• Set a day once a year for a general check-up and cleaning of the under sink plumbing. In such a day, you should do the following:

1) Open up the cabinet where the kitchen sink plumbing is located and look if there are any holes, cracks and damages to the pipes connected to your sink.
2) Then, make a thorough inspection of the sink’s plumbing system.
3) If there are damages, determine if you could just repair them or if they need to be replaced. If you are unsure, you can call a professional plumber and ask what is needed to be done.
4)  If the job requires a replacement for a pipe, or an installation of a water filter, you can elect to do two things: a) you can do it yourself if you know how and you have the required tools, or b) you can just ask a professional plumber to do it for a certain fee. Option b is safer and is recommended for the average homeowner.

Doing these simple things consistently and on time will keep your under the sink plumbing system working efficiently for years without suffering major problems.

Solution to Common Kitchen Sink Plumbing Problems
It is not that difficult to fix common problems associated with the kitchen sink. Before you call a professional plumber, check first to see if you can fix it yourself. You may save the cost of the services of an expensive plumber.
• Use a drain cleaner – use it regularly to clean your drain pipes. This will prevent clogging of your drain.
• For clogged drain pipes – use a plunger to apply pressure and suck out the debris inside the drain. To make it more efficient, coat the outer rim with a petroleum jelly. Make sure that the sink is filled with water. Then work the plunger up and down the sink pipe several times. As soon as the drain is unclogged, the water should freely flow down the drain.
• For stubborn clogs, empty all water content of the sink. Then pour the required amount of drain cleaner (from the instructions in the bottle). Let it stay for several hours (or according to the manufacturer’s instruction), or even overnight. Then rinse the sink with water. The water should now flow freely. If not, flush the drain with hot water and repeat the procedure.
• As a last resort, if the drain is still clogged, you have no other recourse but to check the U-trap under the sink. This is the U-shaped pipe connected to the sink drain. You have to loosen the nut holding the pipes in order to disconnect the U-trap. You need to prepare a small catch basin to catch whatever debris that is deposited in this trap. It may suddenly fall and you don’t want foul smelling debris messing up the floor under your sink.
• If at any time you feel that you are not able to do the task, it would not be wrong to call a plumber to help you solve the problem.