Strange plumbing problem

leroyjenkens

I noticed there's like little hairs inside my sink every once in a while when the water comes up into the sink. The hairs aren't the color of my hair. I live alone. Oh god.

I told management. Hopefully they come soon to fix this.

leroyjenkens

Well I just came home from work and the entire apartment stinks. While I was gone, the sink filled itself with nasty water for no reason at all, and then drained for no reason at all after leaving its stink behind.

Travis_King

Guess you've got to wait for you're landlord. I'd call and remind him that at any time he runs the risk of the apartment floors becoming inundated with smelly refuse water.

lisab

What a pain. Does the sink have a pull stop? Maybe you should keep it plugged.

OmCheeto

I would move to a top floor apartment and let someone else deal with your ****.

BobG

I'm wondering if you have a clog in the vent stack (which would be outside your apartment and beyond your capability to deal with, anyway).

With no vent stack, adding new wastewater to the drainage system would be like holding water in a straw by putting your finger over the top. Of course, in this case, a new vent source can be opened by simply pushing the water from the trap (the curved part of your drain) back up into your sink.

Usually, the water in your trap forms the seal that prevents gases from the drainage system/sewer/etc from coming back up into your home. They escape out the vent stack, instead.

leroyjenkens

It doesn't close all the way. Behind the faucet is a thing I can pull up and down. If I pull it up, the drain "closes". I looked under the sink and this closing mechanism goes into the bottom of the sink and pulls down or pushes up on the valve thing to close or open it. Well water is leaking from where it goes into the sink. (It's hard to explain) So even if I close it, the water will still leak into the bucket under the sink (it stinks horribly under that sink). I closed it just to see if that helps at all.
I am the top floor. Do you think I could be getting water from the neighbor?
And if so, they have to be having the same problem as me, right?
I'm about to take the pipe off from the bottom and stick something in the pipe going into the wall so I don't get anymore of that damn disgusting water coming into my sink. Do you think I should? It won't mess anything up, will it?
If not, do you have any idea on what I could stick in there? Will a washcloth stuffed in there work?

BobG

This is only indirectly related to your problem. The stopper mechanism needs a new gasket/seal down by the pivot ball.

I say it's indirectly related because it sounds like this is a low rent apartment where the owner/manager does all of the repairs himself, even though he's not really a plumber. The building's plumbing system has more problems than you count.

leroyjenkens

Yeah, it's low rent. I'm only paying 458 a month, which is actually lower than the usual price. I got a deal.
I'm a student working part time, so its the best place I can afford.

edward

Let me see if I have this straight. You had the trap off of under the sink had placed a bucket under it. With no water running anywhere in your apartment you left for some period of time and came back to find that the bucket was full and had overflowed.

Does the sink in your bathroom share a common wall with another second story apartment?

leroyjenkens

I put the pipe back on. The bucket is there because the thing leaks.
Yes, there's another apartment through the wall where my sink is. Am I getting their disgusting water? Because there's always little hairs in the water like someone shaved, but the hair isn't the color of my hair.
This is ridiculous.

Wouldn't the apartment next door be having the same problem if we're sharing the same pipes? I don't know if they've complained yet.

turbo

Every year around Thanksgiving, my plumber friends get "emergency" calls for odd plumbing problems. Most of the time, the problems arose from people dumping warm, fatty water down the drain. As soon as the fats hit cold drain pipes, they congeal and gather any bits of fibrous material that come their way. Then the plugs become semi-permanent. I hope this hasn't happened in your apartment building, but the timing seems right.

edward

Their sink may be draining slowly through your leak. I understand your leak is from the pull up stopper. That can usually be fixed with a new washer as BOB G mentioned. But you will still have water backing up if there is a clog or partial clog down the line.

Pull up stoppers tend to be a natural place for a hair plug to start. They can even slow the drain flow down to next to nothing. That's why it is possible to sometimes pull a trap and find it clear.

It looks to me like you are getting your neighbors sink water. Even if your sink stopper is pulled
and the stopper is down you still have a leak where the stopper rod enters your drain.

Your neighbors water can come up from below into the overflow portion of your sink, then gradually go down through a mostly clogged common (shared pipe). They should be having some kind of problem.

The sink stopper doesn't block the overflow function of a sink. And it doesn't stop water from another source from backing up into the overflow portion of a sink.

BTW the sink overflow area can be the cause of some overwhelming odors even without drain problems.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sink+...9,r:3,s:0,i:95

leroyjenkens

It seemed to start the moment I dumped a bucket of water down the sink. I guess maybe the rush of water pushed some stuff that was along the sides of the pipe down to block it? Or is it just a coincidence?
In the picture you posted, my sink is leaking from where the "pivot rod" goes into the sink. I don't know why that would start leaking all of a sudden. Do you think it's related to the clog? Both things started happening simultaneously. The leak and the clog.

edward

Posted by: leroyjenkens

The rod may have been sealed by gunk,soap, hair. hard to tell. When you dumped the water in the sink it may have washed it all away enough to start a leak.

Some times a leak around the rod can be stopped by gently tightening the pivot nut that the rod runs through. Older pull up stoppers have a gasket inside. Newer ones have a plastic ball on the rod and uses no gasket.

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/i.../infpopup.html

The big problem is that individual Parts aren't available. They want to sell the entire assembly, and they cost about $75 +. You may be able to get a washer that will fit if it is the old style.


In the worst case scenario it can be fixed on the cheap. Remove the pivot nut, pull out the rod, while pulling out the sink stopper from the top. (you may need a helper) By a cheapo expandable rubber plug and put it in the hole where the rod used to go. Also get an old fashioned drain plug at a hardware store.

The big thing is is the sink still backing up??

The rod pivot nut area will leak anytime you drain water from the sink. Or in this case anytime your neighbors sink cross flows into yours.