Found dirty water in my kitchen sink. Help!!!

[johnjh2o]

Return the snake it's to small. A cable that size can easily turn around on it self in a 1-1/2 line when you hit the first obstruction. At that point the cable will either become stuck or break off in the line. Save the money on the snake and call a plumber you will be better off in the long run.

John

[Draindit]

Man, I know this is an old thread and through reading it I see that everone who posted did their best to help this person with the problem. But part of me would have loved to tell them to just go for it. Let them see how tricky dropping a cable into a back to back sink line can be. Then, if they finally ended up getting it, they get to feel the head buzz of accomplishment. But if not, when they call the pro they know their money is being well spent on a skill not easily aquired or practiced. But hey, either of those scenarios may have happened anyway.

[Mr_David]

Originally Posted by Draindit

Man, I know this is an old thread and through reading it I see that everone who posted did their best to help this person with the problem. But part of me would have loved to tell them to just go for it. Let them see how tricky dropping a cable into a back to back sink line can be. Then, if they finally ended up getting it, they get to feel the head buzz of accomplishment. But if not, when they call the pro they know their money is being well spent on a skill not easily aquired or practiced. But hey, either of those scenarios may have happened anyway.

I agree. sort of. Had a customer on a 3rd flr stack, take his kitchen drain apart and broke the plastic flanged elbow coming out of the disposal.
So he left it apart and I didn't get there until 3 days later. He is very lucky that the stoppage was not in the common line shared with the 4th floor. He would have had a very unpleasant experience.

So I remembered a sign I saw posted in a service station...

$30 /hr labor
$40 /hr if you watch
$50 /hr if you help
$100 /hr if you tried to fix it yourself before you brought it in

[Draindit]

I mean I am all for people doing it themselves. I always explain to my customers everything I am doing, how I do it(basically) and what they can do to prevent it from happening again. But I always stress that it is best to do there research, expect to make mistakes, expect to get dirty, and mabey expect to spend some money, if they plan on taking on even a minor drain cleaning project on their own.