Drained

Last Sunday I mentioned that a couple important drains in my house had clogged. In particular they were the kitchen sink (meaning the few dishes and pans I've washed in the last week were done in the bathroom) and the toilet (not clogged, but mighty sluggish). There were also a couple minor problems – second sink in the bathroom was clogged and it was probably time to eliminate tree roots from the main drain before the basement flooded again. That made it worthwhile to call a plumber, who might charge $75 to show up. But as I said in the previous post, getting them to show up was a problem. So I contacted a guy from the church who does plumbing work. I knew he wouldn't handle the tree roots so also contacted yet another professional plumber.

The church guy was here this morning. The bathroom sink and the toilet were resolved quickly. It took him a while to snake the kitchen drain. He finally got it done and gave it a good test – only to find the water overflowing out of the small bathroom toilet beside the kitchen. Big puddle on the floor and water that flowed along the toilet drain into the basement. I was glad the professional guy was already scheduled.

They (an assistant too) came this afternoon. They opened the trap at the base of the kitchen drain stack (shared by the little bath), declared it full of grease, and said it will have to be cleaned out by working from the vent on the roof – for a big extra fee, of course. The assistant tackled the tree roots (fortunately not many in the drain) and the other climbed on the roof. They were done in about 45 minutes. All drains working well now.

I sent a note to my nutritionist asking how one avoids grease filled drains while on a low carb, high fat diet. Her solution is to use paper towels to wipe the oils off plates and pans and put it in the trash. Yeah, a choice between sacrificing a few trees and avoiding clogged drains. Is that better than using Drano?