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Sep. 6th, 2020 04:31 pmMinor adventures in plumbing have ensued today. I finally got to the point where I knew I was going to have to take the bathroom sink stopper out to snake the drain, so I did that this morning when I got home from getting my hairs cut and going grocery shopping.
So: loosen the pivot rod and pull it out and the sink stopper will come out of the drain. Upon which I discovered that the stopper would probably have come out by itself, because the pivot rod was missing an inch and a half of the in-sink end, eaten away. The only reason the stopper went up and down at all was because the remnants of the pivot rod were part of a large wad of hair and black- and rust-colored who-knows-what at the end of the stopper. ICK. But that's what the problem was, so I didn't even really need to snake the drain. I did it anyway, though, and got some other hair and gunk out.
The sink stopper is supposed to have a hole in the end for the pivot rod to go through. What it had was a mass of very hard black who-knows-what, which I had to chip off in order to make enough hole for a new pivot rod. Following which I went out to buy a new pivot rod.
I actually bought two new pivot rods, because I went to both Ace Hardware at St. Mary's and Aborn True Value in Coolidge Corner, just to see if there were options. There weren't, and I ended up with two of the same pivot rod set, but that was actually good. And I went to the bookstore and got Dark Tide, which is about the Boston Molasses Flood, and I've been living here for 15 years at this point and haven't read it yet.
Anyway, came home and proceeded to put in the new pivot rod, including Fun With Clevis Rod (the damn thing is twisted, somehow, and doesn't untwist for some reason, so I had to argue with it more than I wanted). The old pivot rod had a washer under the nut, but it also had a smaller ball, so the new one doesn't need a washer. Also, the old nut was metal and the new one is plastic. The instructions said "hand tighten, and then tighten with pliers until it stops leaking." So I did, and it never stopped leaking. I got fed up with the pliers and used a wrench, which promptly cracked the nut, so it was never going to stop leaking. So, hooray, I had a second set, which behaved better (although I had to have more Fun With Clevis Rod) and stopped leaking (mostly, as it turned out) in a reasonable amount of time. I wonder if there was something wrong with the first nut to start with, but it doesn't matter because I had another one, and I put everything back under the sink again.
It didn't entirely stop leaking, though, so when I went back to make sure, the heating pad was damp. So I tightened the nut some more and it held for a full 30 seconds of running water full blast. I left a plastic container under the trap anyway, just in case, though.
So now I get to spend tomorrow not being annoyed at how long it takes the sink to drain, and reading Dark Tide, and generally doing things besides being a useful and productive adult human.
So: loosen the pivot rod and pull it out and the sink stopper will come out of the drain. Upon which I discovered that the stopper would probably have come out by itself, because the pivot rod was missing an inch and a half of the in-sink end, eaten away. The only reason the stopper went up and down at all was because the remnants of the pivot rod were part of a large wad of hair and black- and rust-colored who-knows-what at the end of the stopper. ICK. But that's what the problem was, so I didn't even really need to snake the drain. I did it anyway, though, and got some other hair and gunk out.
The sink stopper is supposed to have a hole in the end for the pivot rod to go through. What it had was a mass of very hard black who-knows-what, which I had to chip off in order to make enough hole for a new pivot rod. Following which I went out to buy a new pivot rod.
I actually bought two new pivot rods, because I went to both Ace Hardware at St. Mary's and Aborn True Value in Coolidge Corner, just to see if there were options. There weren't, and I ended up with two of the same pivot rod set, but that was actually good. And I went to the bookstore and got Dark Tide, which is about the Boston Molasses Flood, and I've been living here for 15 years at this point and haven't read it yet.
Anyway, came home and proceeded to put in the new pivot rod, including Fun With Clevis Rod (the damn thing is twisted, somehow, and doesn't untwist for some reason, so I had to argue with it more than I wanted). The old pivot rod had a washer under the nut, but it also had a smaller ball, so the new one doesn't need a washer. Also, the old nut was metal and the new one is plastic. The instructions said "hand tighten, and then tighten with pliers until it stops leaking." So I did, and it never stopped leaking. I got fed up with the pliers and used a wrench, which promptly cracked the nut, so it was never going to stop leaking. So, hooray, I had a second set, which behaved better (although I had to have more Fun With Clevis Rod) and stopped leaking (mostly, as it turned out) in a reasonable amount of time. I wonder if there was something wrong with the first nut to start with, but it doesn't matter because I had another one, and I put everything back under the sink again.
It didn't entirely stop leaking, though, so when I went back to make sure, the heating pad was damp. So I tightened the nut some more and it held for a full 30 seconds of running water full blast. I left a plastic container under the trap anyway, just in case, though.
So now I get to spend tomorrow not being annoyed at how long it takes the sink to drain, and reading Dark Tide, and generally doing things besides being a useful and productive adult human.
