IT IS SNAKE WEEK!
This week No Snake So far.
Here is an explanation for all y’all not sittin’ in the back of my mind and following along. I have lived in this house for 9 years. 5 of those years I have had to fix the drain in the kitchen in the week before American Thanksgiving. On four occasions I have had to snake the drain to get it working. This is not really a joyous thing to be doing Wednesday evening before T-day. Once we called a plumber, he was less experienced than I was but a least I didn’t have to run the snake to clear the drain that year.
A few details for those still readin’. A snake is a 25’ (or 100’ if I bring out the big gun) long flexible cable that has a hook/screw device at the end that you feed down a drain to clear out clogs. My plumbing is 75 years old and the kitchen sink has a 15 foot long minimal slope run to the main. About half of that run is full of hardened crud. The other have is clear because the first year it clogged I cut out what I could and replaced it. So until I remodel the kitchen this is this the price. SNAKE WEEK.
Anyway I few hours ago My wife informed me she had just completed a sink full of dishes and when she went to run the disposal and drain the sink water came spraying out from under the sink. SNAKE WEEK!
I am a damned good plumber. One of the few regrets I have is not getting my license way back in the 80’s when I lived in KY. I passed the test I just needed a few month under a licensed plumber which was tough to do with young kids and taking exams. (Actuarial aside: considering how poorly I did on completing exams I should have snaked drains instead of studying…) So back to the riveting story of my water spewing kitchen sink drain. After a few minutes of clearing out under the sink, cleaning up the water, and filling the sink to recreate the event that spewed water. I had my wife (Imaging a goddess of love and thoughtfulness standing at a sink as I, am old fat man, sprawled on the floor under her peering at the plumbing, if you know what I mean.) go back through the events before the big spew. She pulled the plug. She flipped on the disposal and let it run. And there it was.
Spewing like a teenager on the frat party punch the white hand tightened PVC drain to the second sink. So easy to tap and tighten that loose pipe. All fixed.
I informed the goddess to not run the disposal for more than a few seconds at a time as that long pipe can’t take the pressure and backs up, then something spews. Now I know I probably need to snake that drain just for good measure but I like living on the edge, edging the anticipation of demand. Snake week, always demands more attention than any other week.
