Plumbing?

[blas]

I had a little incident this past Saturday morning regarding my sink.

I should note, for anyone who doesn't know, I live in an apartment with 8 total units. I do not know if all the plumbing is intertwined or seperate or how it's set up, which is mostly why I am going to be asking for advice.

Before I explain what happened, I will note the important facts. We do not have garbage disposals in the kitchen sinks. And I am being honest when I say that I do not, ever ever, try to put bits of food or anything else down the sink. I have only lived in one house with a garbage disposal, so I'm very used to scraping my dishes off into the garbage, not the sink. Only liquids go down the drain, and always with a healthy after wash of water.

Saturday morning, I woke up to find my kitchen sink totally backed up. Both sides of the sink. It must have been that way all night before I got home and went to bed, because it was all dried up.

It smelled gosh awful. One side was white and looked like curdled milk. My only thought would be that it was Silk that I'd poured down the drain from not totally finishing a glass here or there. The other side was brown and looked like curdled milk....that was probably from my protein shakes.

Luckily, I still had half a bottle of Liquid Plumber and dumped it into both drains, and thankfully, within 10 minutes, both drains cleared.

For the record, neither the bathroom sink or the tub was backed up. Just the kitchen sink.

I am looking for clues as to how this happened. Is it likely all of the pipes are intertwined and perhaps one of my neighbors has a nasty clog that backed up into mine? Perhaps I didn't use enough water and the milk and protein curdled and dried up and sent itself upwards?

I am also asking advice on this because the maintenance men are assholes around here and unless it got so bad that I, my dad, or any of my handymen friends couldn't fix it, I CANNOT go to the landlord or maintenance men about it because they are such jerks about these apartments.

Without going too far off topic and warranting a totally different thread, after my yearly inspection about a month ago, I realized just what asses I rent from. They were inspecting my sinks and they were swearing up and down that they were clogged (they were not. I am being totally honest, in having really long hair and being obsessive compulsive about shaving and keeping the pipes clean, it was NOT farking clogged) and they took my damn toilet plunger after both kitchen drains AND my kitchen sink (!!!ewwww!!!!) and when I told them I always keep Liquid Plumber or Drano handy because I do clog the tub a bit from my hair......I was yelled at and practically crucified for using it! Apparently it's against lease rules for using those products and anytime there is a clog of any kind, you have to report it. (oh, and a teaser for my new thread about them...they feel the same fucking way about burnt out LIGHT BULBS...that's right, you aren't allowed to change your own light bulbs!)

Of course, that is poppycock and I will NOT call them every time my tub is clogged or a bulb is out, because it's a waste of both of our times. I think it's just an excuse to be let in and see what's going on here, or a power trip, or both. So when I have a clog on a Saturday morning, you really want to come over here and fix it when a bottle of Drano would fix it, no problem?

And with how often I clog the tub because of shaving and my shedding hair....I don't think so (which really isn't that often, just often as to be expected for a girl who has longer or easily shedding hair).

Any advice onto how this happened? Maybe it's a freak occurance?

[tacohuman]

a clog in a kitchen sink is most likely due to grease, and hot water will generally clear that up. as for how it happened overnight, i'm not sure. were you running a dishwasher? it's possible it could have come from another unit, but there should be a backflow preventer somewhere in the system that should have prevented that.

also, while i'm all for doing your own repairs whenever possible, and drano and similar products work fine in moderation, frequent use can erode metal pipes, and can break down the seals on pvc pipes, which can lead to much more costly repairs to replace plumbing. a plunger is generally the best first line of attack to clear a clog, and then a pipe snake.

[AdminAssistant]

And if the thought of using the same plunger in the toilet and the sink grosses you out (I know it grosses me out), they make sink plungers that are smaller.

[Seshat]

There are enzymatic pipe cleaners that can be used, and also 'plumbers' snakes' that can help you clean out pipes without causing erosion. You can also toss baking soda down, then pour vinegar down to make a 'science class volcano' which can shake a clog loose.

There should be backflow preventers between each unit, so that the worst that happens is that your own stuff is what comes back to haunt you. If the place is particularly old, or particularly shoddy, there might not be, however.

Also, if the pipes beyond your backflow preventer are full or clogged, there may not be room there for your drainage. You would experience this as a clog. So would whoever dropped whatever the culprit was down the pipe - but if they're upstream from you, they won't notice it as quickly as you will.

[blas]

Sorry, I should have also noted we don't have dishwashers here, either.

As often as possible, I use paper plates and whatnot to get out of doing dishes. If I have to use regular plates and cups, as I said, I never put anything in the sink that can't be washed down, like bits of food.

These buildings are quite old, as far as I know, they have to be at least 30 years old.

[elsporko]

I'd be careful about using a snake. I think you can screw pipes up with it if you do something wrong and these guys don't seem to forgiving.

[blas]

I haven't used a snake or asked my dad to use one, yet. It's never been that bad in any of the drains.

I'm just hoping that it was a freak incident or nothing that would require calling them. They are so intimidating and farking rude that I don't want to call them unless something goes really wrong.

Not to mention, my neighbor's fridge shit the bit a few weeks back, he called them and said it didn't work. They asked if he was sure! They then told him to fiddle around with the settings (we can adjust how cold we want it in both the fridge and freezer).....he did, and called them back. By this point, it's been a day because the fridge/freezer require 24 hours for adjustments....STILL doesn't work, doesn't hum, stuff in his freezer is melted......ok we'll come look at it.......geee no it doesn't work, ok we'll bring you another one.......all that food wasted....and two days after that he finally got a new one!

Yeah, no way am I leaving a huge clog if there ever was one for several days.

[technical.angel]

Gee, Blas, are you living in my old apt building??? They did the same thing to me when my fridge died.