Solution found Forums

Grizzly

Washing soda crystals ( = sodium carbonate)dissolved in hot water are a very good way of stripping the flesh off biological specimens.

Not as lethal as caustic soda but still treat it with respect, don't get it in your eyes and wear gloves if you're going to wash up in it. It degreases skin as well as drains.

G

cliver

Whilst away in Scotland, and rather than waiting for what may have been an expensive repair job at a dealers, I decided to have a go at fixing our slow draining sink myself.

Whilst following the pipe from sink to waste tank, it became apparent that the original pipe had four REALLY bad twists in it, which had almost caused the pipe to collapse on itself, which I thought could be well be the problem.

After a visit to a Koi fish and garden centre where I purchased a 4 mtrs length of 25mm black reinforced pipe, I set about the job of replacement.
This was not as easy as I had expected due to access problems to the pipe run, but the job was eventually completed.

I have deliberately left a 'loop' in the new pipe run to ensure there is a water trap in the line - to avoid smells coming back up the pipe from the waste tank.

The system is much better at draining. It does not run away as quickly as either the sink nor the shower, but I put this down to the fact that the sink is normally filled up, and emptied in one go, whereas the shower and bathroom sink are left to run away whilst the water is being supplied. Or in some cases with the bathroom sink, this hold significantly less water than the kitchen sink.

Cost - £12 for the 4Mtrs of pipe and two new clips to secure.

I would suggest that anyone having a similar problem checks there pipe run by feeling it for kinks. Ours may have had these at point of sale, but I think they are compounded by the fact that hot water softens the pipe, and can therefore allow it to distort, possible causing it to collapse - as in our case.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, your comments and advice have been greatly appreciated,

Clive