Kitchen Sink prob

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Peanut

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Dec 16, 2017
Messages
20,244
Location
Bama
Today the left side of my kitchen sink started pouring water. The pipe in the photo, at the top, under the nut is rusted clean through. My guess is the drains are 44 years old. The drain on the other side of the sink probably needs replaced also.

What do I need to do to fix this? Do replacement pipes come in standard lengths? Is this a purchased assembly?

Do I have to buy pipe and cut to length? Are there rubber gaskets or seals between the pvc and metal pipe and the sink?

Any info will be appreciated.

drain_v1.jpg
 
Since you seem to have mostly pvc already you should be able to get a small kit fir the Down tubes. Assuming you can get the metal pipe and nuts loose it should be fairly easy. Yes, you may have to cut but it’s not too hard.
 
What Guardian said. Take the two nuts loose. Take the pipe down to Lowe's, or wherever, and pick up a kit the right size. They come in different diameters and lengths, get the one of the right diameter that is at least as long as the old one. The kit should come with new nuts and gaskets but if it doesn't then pick them up as well.

You're lucky, I just cleared a plugged drain and I'm in the process of installing a clean out so I don't have to cut my drain open next time. After that is done I get to patch the drywall where I had to rip the wall open.
 
I got one nut loose on the other drain. While I was doing it my channel locks slipped and I punched a hole in the other pipe... yep, it needs replacing also. None of the other nuts would budge so I soaked them in penetrating oil. Maybe I can get them loose in the morning.

Thanks everyone... I've never done any plumbing.
 
If the channel locks don't work try a pipe wrench.

I just put some grease on my clean out threads. If I'd have had never seize I'd have used that.
 
Might be easier to pull the drain baskets and replace them at the same time you do the tailpieces, then you only have to get the nuts loose at the PVC pipes, witch should be pretty easy..

I hate plumbing, it's always a minimum of 3 trips to the supply store.
 
As pointed out above, easy homeowner fix.

It is just a rough place to get in to operate, all cramped up with not a lot of room. Pipe wrench as well as the crescent should do the trick. Crunch the middle chrome piece if you have to, it is trash anyway.

As you found out, getting the old nuts broken is the first step. Penetrating oil or PB Blaster them up a bit. The tail piece is readily available and I agree, it looks like 1 ½”.

It might be a good idea to remove the sink drain while you have it all apart. There is a very large nut that threads up on the drain itself. Get a small tub of plumbers putty and reset the drain in the sink. I believe they have a washer for it also, but putty that bad boy too. With you wrenching on the tail piece the chance of breaking the old seal on the drain is pretty good, especially if the tailpiece nuts required a lot of force. Might as well do it while everything is out anyway, preventative maintenance.

Worst case scenario is the sink has to be removed. Not hard but can be a real PITA to get to all the little clips holding the sink to the counter. It is sometimes better to remove it rather than be under there cranking on all that old plumbing, chances of breaking something else. Not likely with the PVC it is connected to, but just be careful. < --- Not recommended to just take the sink out! Just saying it is sometimes required.

Hopefully the nuts remove easily and you can slip a new tail piece in, fit it back together and be done without removing anything else, like the sink drain. The new tail piece should come with an assortment of washers. Use the ones that fit best, top and bottom. Tighten but do not crank it as hard as you can. You just need it tight enough to hold, not enough so that Atlas himself could not tighten any more. It is not a high-pressure connection, it is just a drain.

Let us know if you run into any issues!
 
Yep, easy fix, w/tax less than $11. Only 2 hours and that included drive time to the hardware store.

Optical illusion in this photo, the far pipe isn't at a 15 degree angle.

While I have the cabinet empty I thought I should paint it. I have a fan blowing in it to finish up the drying.

Drain new_v1.jpg
 
Looks good.
I just finished a bathroom remodel and the pluming part required multiple trips to Ace Hardware.
I even had to go back in before I left the parking lot because I had bought the wrong connector.
It also took 3 days to get 2 tiny leaks to stop. Both leaks were in a fitting I did not touch.
Old houses and their pluming can be a nightmare. When I moved into my folks house the plumbing was a mess. Some galvanized pipe, some copper, and some PVC.
I finally just cut everything in the crawl space out and started over. The biggest problem was the kitchen drain pipe.
It had came lose from the straps that held it up and formed about a 2 foot sag. No wonder it never drained. Mom wasted a lot of time and Drano trying to get it working.
Your pluming job looks really good. Neat and clean.
Do you make long distance house calls in case I ever need a plumber?:D
The only thing I hate worse is painting. I am just horrible at that.

Painting and drywall are my 2 least favorite things.
I hate both of them and I am not good at either.
I will say I am a better painter than my wife but that's not saying much.
She did not seem too upset when I told her to just go back in the living room and I would finish painting. Hey, maybe I was had and she really can paint.:)
 
I use my phone/camera a lot. I take photos when I take something apart so I can get it right putting it back together. Photos are also handy at the store trying to find what I need to purchase.

The only thing I hate worse is painting. I am just horrible at that.

Sort of funny... A guy I worked with in the Navy used to say I was "the most dangerous man alive with a can of spray paint". I'm no good at painting either. :D
 
I use my phone/camera a lot. I take photos when I take something apart so I can get it right putting it back together. Photos are also handy at the store trying to find what I need to purchase.



Sort of funny... A guy I worked with in the Navy used to say I was "the most dangerous man alive with a can of spray paint". I'm no good at painting either. :D

I have been doing that since I got my first digital camera. It has saved my butt more than once.
My wife takes pictures of things she needs to get at the store.
 
I use my phone/camera a lot. I take photos when I take something apart so I can get it right putting it back together. Photos are also handy at the store trying to find what I need to purchase.



Sort of funny... A guy I worked with in the Navy used to say I was "the most dangerous man alive with a can of spray paint". I'm no good at painting either. :D

Good idea on the pics, I will be using that.. I do it at work all the time for part numbers, fittings etc. Just haven't here at home. THANK YOU

My wife and I both tried to paint of 2nd bathroom once. My god it was soooo bad. I tried 3 times with brushes and rollers both and just made it worse. We had a lady paint parts of our house a few years later (we lived with it for a good while first) and she busted out laughing when we showed her that and told her to fix it. "How in the world did you do that", she ask? We laughed to, just been a running joke ever since.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top