Blocked drain pipes and PVC

When your drain pipes get clogged, first determine at what point the blockage resides. One can determine this by knocking on the tube, or by letting the tube empty out, then fill it again. Estimate the point where the water doesn't run through anymore by the volume of water necessary to fill up the tube.

Typical causes of blockage are hair, plaster, chemicals that solidify and tooth picks. Do not ever throw these down your drain.

It is easy to mechanically remove a blockage if it's nearby the end of the tube, or a point where the tube is easily opened up. I have found that a metal cable with a pin at the end that one can twist to increase the tension is a very useful tool to open up drain pipes.

When you cannot reach the clog, opening up the drain pipe is necessary. Try to make sure on beforehand that you open it up at the right spot. If the drain pipes are copper than just get rid of the copper part all the way to the sink (for household plumbing) and replace it by PVC, which is much handier. A 40 mm diameter drain pipe will do the job. The old copper draining may well have the same diameter, in which case it is easily connected to the PVC replacement at the end.

When putting in a PVC drain pipe, make sure that you realize that angles are never straight (but 87 degrees point 30), and that T-elements typically have to be put in in accord with the directions of the flow. Take your time to puzzle together an effortless and tensionless connection between the points you need to connect. Make sure the tube does not run through a place that you need for some other purpose.

When gluing your PVC connections, mark them first both for depth and connecting angle, by a line parallel to the end of the tube, as well as a line orthogonal to the section (which runs over two pieces to be connected at a given angle). Use sufficient glue. Spread it out with a brush or your fingers, evenly over the two pieces to be glued. Push them together hard, and do not twist.

PVC drain pipes are easy.

Should leaks still occur, then you can resort to a paste that is made of two components which after mixing becomes hard after a period of time. This is a last resort.