{"id":279,"date":"2013-03-03T10:09:02","date_gmt":"2013-03-03T10:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/?p=279"},"modified":"2014-09-25T12:21:03","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T12:21:03","slug":"how-to-retrieve-something-in-a-sink-drain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/how-to-retrieve-something-in-a-sink-drain\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Retrieve Something in a Sink Drain"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>How to Retrieve Something in a Sink Drain<\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright\" alt=\"Sink Drain Trap\" src=\"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/images\/sink-drain.png\" \/><br \/>\nOne of life\u2019s most frustrating occurrences has to be losing something. We\u2019ve all lost something at one time or another and it\u2019s likely led to some anger or some frantic searched around the house. But, when you lose something down a sink drain, it feels like you\u2019ve lost something that is well within reach. That\u2019s largely because that\u2019s exactly what it\u2019s like, but there\u2019s seemingly no way to retrieve the item on your own. Indeed, a wedding ring that slips down the drain could have you reaching for the phone to call an <a title=\"Emergency Plumber\" href=\"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\" target=\"_blank\">emergency plumber<\/a>. But, before you do that, there are some steps you can take to try to retrieve the item on your own.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the easiest option to use (and the one that doesn\u2019t get your hands dirty) is the vacuum option. Something light like an earring might respond to the suction of ShopVac. Of course, to avoid losing the item in the vacuum, you should place a piece of nylon or pantyhose over the suction area. Place the vacuum hose over the sink drain and turn it on. Leave it in place for around 15 seconds. If the item is small enough and light enough, you might find it attached to the nylon at the end of the hose.<\/p>\n<p>If this doesn\u2019t work, then you\u2019ll have to keep on charging. Important items that have fallen down a drain might cause you to enlist the help of an emergency plumber and there\u2019s certainly nothing wrong with that. Of course, you could still save a little money by getting your hands a little dirty. The first thing you\u2019ll want to do is turn the water off to the sink. In general, there are going to be valves underneath the sink that you can turn to shut off the water. If you lost the ring in the kitchen sink, it might be a good idea to unplug the garbage disposal if you have one installed.<\/p>\n<p>After that, you\u2019re going to need to locate the U-shaped pipe \u201ctrap\u201d underneath the sink. Unless the item you lost is buoyant, this is where it will have fallen. If you haven\u2019t already, clear the area underneath your sink and place towels underneath the pipe trap. This way, you won\u2019t cause any water damage underneath the sink. You\u2019ll also need a bucket handy for when you actually remove the pipe trap.<\/p>\n<p>Using a pipe wrench or channel lock pliers, loosen the slip nuts that connect the U-shaped trap to the actual piping. When it becomes loose enough, start untwisting the nuts with your fingers. After removing the pipe trap, dump the contents into the bucket and begin searching for your item. It shouldn\u2019t take you much longer to re-assemble the pipe trap after that. Then you will have your lost item back and you likely will have saved some money by not calling an emergency plumber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to Retrieve Something in a Sink Drain One of life&rsquo;s most frustrating occurrences has to be losing something. We&rsquo;ve all lost something at one time or another and it&rsquo;s likely led to some anger or some frantic searched around the house. But, when you lose something down a sink drain, it feels like you&rsquo;ve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2202,"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/2202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emergencyplumber.uk.com\/plumbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}