Friday, November 28, 2008

I need Joe the Plumber

Well, not the famous one who's not actually a plumber, or Joe for that matter, but the metaphorical Joe. There is a Joe the Plumber about 10 miles away and according to the updates on his website, his business and notariety have picked up tremendously. I hope he keeps the momentum, given that he is actually a licensed plumber and sounds like a nice guy.

Currently I have no kitchen sink, so I've been using the bathroom sink. The bathroom sink has clogged up semi-regularly since I moved in, but hot water and a draino type treatment have done the trick - that, or the neighbors getting their drain unclogged made my lines run better. This sink clogged up today and for the first time will not get unclogged. (No I have not dumped anything larger than remnant tea leaf flakes into it.) So I took the drain apart. The bit that I've been told is the AC drain which branches into my drain was clogged full of orange, sandy goo. My suspicion is that whatever this crud is, it is leaking into my drain and clogging it with sand. Which Draino doesn't touch. The clog has to be further than 12" into my drain which is as far as I can reach. (Don't get me started on how useless plumbers snakes are.)

woeful under sink plumbing

Now I need a plumber to fix it. I'm not sure if the plumber is also the person to fix the AC drain - I need to stop the crud from getting in there or the problem will repeat. I'm hoping I can just get the drain unclogged for now, though, and here's why:
I have a new sink to replace my cruddy looking, non-level, stained on.
I have a new faucet to replace my cruddy looking, backwards hooked up, rust flaking, leaking one.
I have a new drain stem to replace the one that leaks.
I have a new drain segment to replace the one that clogs, although it may be unnecessary.
I have a new vanity cabinet to replace the one that is water damaged and ugly with glued on knobs. However, the new vanity cabinet is not assembled, and I don't want it to get water damaged either while this whole mess gets figured out.

There's a little irony going on as my new dishwasher arrived just this morning and my primary complaint is that I can't wash dishes. Rather I don't really want to wash them in the tub even though it got a good cloroxing just yesterday.

So, I've looked up plumbers on line and sent an email to the date asking for a recommendation. We'll see what kind of response I get. As the toilet and tub still work, we're only at semi-emergency status. But I don't want to get ready for work without a sink. That's what camping is for.

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