18th May 2011. #9 Clearing a Choked Pipe

Love this Kitchen Sink?

What is your kitchen decor like? Is it modern or classic?

No matter the design, have you ever tried clearing your clogged kitchen pipe?

Well, the pipe under my kitchen sink finally leaked after 5 years.

I used the term, “finally” because there were warning signs for the past months. For example, the soapy water in the sink, would take a long time to settle down through the drainage. In addition, there would be this offal smell that permeated from the kitchen drainage.

However, my mindset was, “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

Well, I guess it was my fault. I always took for granted that such a household disaster would never happen to my family. In any case, I could always call my father. He could fix anything under the roof. Even the tiles on the roof!

I was wrong!

My daddy was busy this time, and all he did was to give some advice over the phone . . . I was on my own!

Therefore, I had to suck it up like a man. After all, National Service did train me to get dirty and do household chores (NS is definitely useful for nation building)!

The Messy Clean Up

I had to unscrew all the drain connectors, remove the clogged waste in the pipes, and even wash each bit of the sink drain, and faucet. It took me nearly an hour, because this was my first time fixing a leaking pipe. I never had the chance to, as it never happened before!

After fixing it up, I turned on the tap, and . . .  lo and behold, the pipe was still leaking!

Only this time, water was gushing from the bottom of the sink in full force!

I was very disappointed because the feeling was like back in secondary school days, when I could not solve my physics question in the examinations. I felt lost and stupid. But I knew that if I justified this feeling by waiting for either my daddy or a plumber, I would never learn. I would always feel lost when such things happen.

After all, this is my house right? I need to take ownership of my assets, and not rely on others.

I then went back to the kitchen sink again, and removed everything and started from scratch. This time round, after unscrewing everything underneath the sink, I ensured that every piece was aligned properly. This second round of effort took me another hour.

Then anxiously, I turned on the tap . . .

No leakage!

I was really happy. I had finally learned how to clear the waste from my pipes in the kitchen sink. Just thinking about how clean and smooth flowing the kitchen sink pipe was, made me feel so good! The feeling was . . .

 Simply Shiok!