Dishwasher - Disposal-Sink Problem

18 years ago

Too many potato peels were in the disposal and the disposal and drain were clogged. The sink was then plunged, but when the disposal was running, water and peels would spit out. More water was run in the drain and more plunging.

Then we took the trap apart from under the sink and cleared it out. From the plunging, the dishwasher had lots of dirty "peely' water. I bailed that water out.

Once the trap was cleared, the disposal and sink drain worked OK. But after running a short wash cycle, it seems that water is just passing through between the dishwasher and the sink.

Is it the line between the dishwasher and disposal. Clogged, or maybe is not placed correctly (no trap)?

Please help,, Thanks very Much

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

lazypup
18 years ago
When plunging a double sink the force of the plunger is often dissipated by passing through the cross tube and exiting out the opposite sink drain. The correct procedure is to seal the opposite sink drain while plunging. I use two plungers, one to cover the opposite sink drain opening while plunging the sink with the other plunger, but you can also do it by setting the drain stopper and holding it firmly in place or covering the sink drain with a wet rag.

The most common point of clogs on a double sink drain is the TEE. The code requires that the Tee in an "end waste" or "center waste" kit must be a baffled tee, which means that inside that tee there is a baffle that directs the flow from each line to the drain rather than bypassing the tee and going to the opposite sink.

If you cannot clear the line by plunging remove both the tee and the P-trap and clean them out and that will normally relieve the problem.

If that does not relieve the problem you will have to snake the drain.
andre_philly
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks, but its not a double sink. My problem is between my (single) sink and the dishwasher.
Related Professionals
Mountain Home General Contractors · Shreveport General Contractors · Coldwater General Contractors · Albert Lea General Contractors · Lebanon General Contractors · Wheeling General Contractors · Clearlake General Contractors · Santa Rosa General Contractors · Traverse City Home Remodeling · Tacoma Home Remodeling · Anderson Bathroom Remodelers · Anniston Bathroom Remodelers · New Bedford Bathroom Remodelers · Plymouth Bathroom Remodelers · Green Bay Bathroom Remodelers
andre_philly
Original Author
18 years ago
After some more thought, since the water flows bewteen the dishwasher and sink, I assume the hose is not clogged. So are my choices that the hose is not positioned correctly,, or could is be a clog in the drain (even though when I ran water, it seemed to drain OK)
davidandkasie
18 years ago
put the stopper inthe sink. fill teh sink with water, then pull the stopper. if it drains slow, or back up into the DW again, then the line is partially clooged. not enough for the sink to back up, but enough that when a large amount of water hit it, it cannot drain quickly and backs up into the DW. you should pull the trap and snakle the drain with a properly sized snake. also check both the trap and any tee/other pipes there.

the hose for hte DW should be raised up as high as possible under the sink, then loop back down to the drain.
andre_philly
Original Author
18 years ago
Turns out it was good old fashioned clogged drain. Could only run the snake about 7 feet. So in the basement we cut the 1 1/2 in drain pipe right before it hit the large waste pipe,,, there was about 8 inches of potato peel gunk,, that looked like you know what.

Patched all together and it still took two sink full plunges to get everything flowing OK.

I re hung the hose between DW and GD, so while the backfilling was a problem,, it was not THE problem.

Happy Thanksgiving (watch where you dispose of peels)