Clogged Sink Drain on MkII

[Stewartn]

Well, the double sinks won't drain. You can imagine how happy this makes the admiral. I removed black vertical hose from the sink drain "T". They drain, so the plug is below. I poked the hose going to the sea cock with a flexible snake. Still clogged. Now:
Can I use a dowel Through the hose and Through the seacock to clear? Anyone ever use a small drain cleaner? I read about blowing it out, but the second sink drain has to be air tight - right?
Any advice greatly appreciated by me and the future marriage counselors.
Rgds -Thx

[Exodus]

I would completely remove the hose and see if it is clogged.  It could be your thru hull that is clogged.  I had this happen with my air conditioner intake recently.  Barnacles, jellyfish and other things can get in there and clog the opening.

[Peggie Hall]

Don't use any chemical drain openers...they're highly destructive to hoses.  

First thing I'd do is check the outside of the thru-hull to see whether a critter has set up housekeeping on it or in it. If nothing has, you could just try clearing any clog or breaking up any buildup at the thru-hull by poking about in it from the outside with a screwdriver or whatever works to poke around in it.

If you can't clear it that way, this should unless something solid has gone down the drain and gotten stuck:  Close the seacock...pour 3-4 ounces of  Raritan C.P. down the drain..fill with water. Leave it for a day or two.

Raritan only markets C.P. as a toilet bowl cleaner, but it's also the best  sump and drain cleaner on the planet. It's a bio-enzymatic cleaner that not only destroys odor on contact, but the enzymes in it "eat" hair, soap scum, grease, body oils etc in drains and sumps.  Unless something that will never dissolve has gone down the drain, C.P. will get it open.  A couple of ounces in a drain full of water once a week when it can stand at least overnight (it can stay there for a year without harming anything) will keep it open--and your shower sump too!  See my next to last post in the "Holding Tank Failure" thread for more on sumps.  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5755.15.html

I have a rental property tenant who always waits till the d'd tree roots have completely blocked the sewer pipe before calling me--always on a weekend or a holiday, of course--instead of calling when she notices that the drains have STARTED to run slow.  Any chance that you're related to her?  

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

How about the old fashioned plunger? You will have to stuff a rag or something into the other drain or have a helper hold something over it to seal it while your plunging.
Also, I don't want to insinuate that you are as absent minded as I am but make sure the through hull is open
I have forgot to open mine a few times, no offense meant

[RV61]

If I understand you correctly you have a clog somewhere between the T connector and the outside of the thruhull. I would close thruhull disconnect hose at seacock pour water in sink if comes out of the disconnected hose you know T connection and or hose to sea cock is clear and the seacock is clogged. If no water you know hose  or T connect  is where the clog is. If seacock is clogged you could use dowel rod and see if you can dislodge or I use my dinghy foot pump as it fits over seacock fitting and I blow out the clogs.

As Ron says a few thoughts

[David Urscheler]

Stewart:
My wife loves to barbecue skirt steaks on our over-nighters. Unfortunately, she also likes to wash that left over grease down the sink! I've had great success unclogging them by just boiling some water and doing a couple rinses down the drain. Good Luck!

[Peggie Hall]

Stewart:
My wife loves to barbecue skirt steaks on our over-nighters. Unfortunately, she also likes to wash that left over grease down the sink! I've had great success unclogging them by just boiling some water and doing a couple rinses down the drain. Good Luck!

Another candidate for weekly doses of Raritan C.P.  If you'll use it, you won't have any clogs to deal with any more...The stuff works!

[Michael Shaner]

We were able to overcome our last sink clog with the dink foot pump...

C.P. sounds like great preventative maintenance...handy stuff...

[Ron Hill]

While Peggy cringes, I use some bleach with the thru hull closed and only to the level of the sink drain.  Let it in there (diluting it with some warm water) for an hour or so.  Then using an Abschlussreidinger (German suction pump) I schluss the water between both of the sinks. 
I do this twice a year.  Of course I've replaced the factory drain 1/2" PVC hoses (1994?) with 1 1/4" drain tubing.

I've done this for only 16? years with no problems.  A thought

[Peggie Hall]

C.P. sounds like great preventative maintenance...handy stuff...

Anybody else notice Mike's use of the word PREVENTIVE immediately following what his does to fix this problem???

Is it only boat owners who have a "fix what breaks" approach to maintenance?  Or am I one of the very few people in our whole society who was taught from early age that prevention really is a LOT cheaper and easier than cure?

[Stewartn]

Small hand plunger from the Home Dumpo did the trick. Thx to all.
Rgds,

[Lance Jones]

Where might I get this magical elixir, Raritan C.P.?

[David Urscheler]

I'll jump in here for Peggy:

www.raritaneng.com

Dave

[Stu Jackson]

Try West Marine or an RV store near you.

[Peggie Hall]

 Google  "Raritan C.P. Cleans Potties"...you'll come up with more than a dozen retailers who carry it....including West Marine who's price is only 50% HIGHER than Raritan's factory list price!  

Here's a link to the whole product line on the Raritan site:
http://www.raritaneng.com/products/cleaning_maintenance/index.html

Btw...re plungers. Ok to use in sink drains, but don't ever use one in a marine toilet. Pushing it down doesn't do any harm, but the suction when you pull up messes up the seals, valves, o-rings, gaskets etc in the pump.