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Author:
sum (FL)
I have a tenant that kept clogging the disposer drain. For some reason they threw entire bowls of salad, or minestrone soup, or pasta down the drain. They seem to think the "garbage disposer" is to dispose garbage...even after I gave them a list of what not to put into the disposer.
Anyways, after a few times of taking apart the drain assembly under the sink, this week the slip joint after the disposer outlet started to leak. I went there and took everything apart, cleaned the threads, wrap some teflon tape over all the male threads, and reassembled all the slip joints and tightened. No leak.
However, that got me thinking...when I looked at what they put into the sink cabinets - trash can, fire extinguisher, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, scour pads, paper towels, empty plastic bags, various kinds of cleaners. liquid soap refills, and tons of other stuff, especially with the trash can being taller, I think every day they put stuff in and take stuff out, they will bump into the drain assembly, knocking if out of alignment a bit, and when they turn on the disposer, the vibration may shake loose the connections some more. That combination may be what contributed to the leak, as I am absolutely sure last time I took it apart I put everything back nice and tight, there shouldn't be a need for teflon tape.
So to be proactive, if I get another call about a leak under there again, I am wondering, is there anything I can do to improve the current connections?
Here are a few pictures. Yes I know the dishwasher drain needs a high loop, I will do that next time.
Should I eliminate the elbow coming off the disposer? Should it come straight out horizontal to tie into the tee to the right and remove the elbow that turns down and then horizontal?
Can I convert the tee under the right side drain into a solvent weld joint and only leave the p-trap as slip joints?
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Author:
KCRoto (MO)
The elbow coming off the disposal is meant to sit vertically, not horizontally. The rubber washer that sits in the recess of the disposal goes on the flanged edge of the pipe and the metal mounting ring secures it. The style you have on there now may just be different, and in that case I apologize, but it looks to be installed backwards, and can't seal properly. I always told my customers to use the disposal if they wished, but run plenty of water and only put down material that they would eat- type and quantity. Bowl of chili? sure. 2.5 gallon stockpot? only a scoop at a time (yes. a whole stockpot.) The key is to run plenty of water. without the liquid to carry the waste downstream it can't go anywhere. I recommend the waste can to the disposal, but that's just my opinion.
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Author:
sharp1 (IL)
Just replace the disposal with a regular drain since they can't use it propely.
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Author:
packy (MA)
can you reconfigure to look like this?
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Author:
hj (AZ)
The disposer drain IS connected properly, but I would go straight over to the tee, (you do not have the space required for a "glued" tee and the adapters you would need), or double 45 it down into the current tee location. That double 90 will NEVER be a "secure" connection.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Possibly, IF they turned the sink around so the shallow bowl was on the right side. Otherwise, NO.
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Author:
packy (MA)
cut off the adapter at the wall, glue on a "Y" with an end cleanout. face the side of the "Y" towards the left sink, glue in an adapter and it can be done..
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Author:
sum (FL)
packy I like your suggestion it sounds good plus I would gain a cleanout.
so remove the street trap adapter and put in a street wye. The CO is on the front of the wye, the branch of the wye I would connect to it the street trap adapter. I then insert a baffle tee below the outlet of the disposer, connect the right sink's drain to it's branch, and connect and swing the p-trap to meet the trap adapter.
The only potential issue I see is the disposer outlet is only slightly higher than the wall connection, will I have enough room there vertically to accommodate a baffle tee for the right side drain?
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Author:
packy (MA)
sum, you might be able to hard pipe with a glue up trap and a 1 1/2 street san tee with street adapters in it
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Author:
sum (FL)
OK I see, so the trick is to use a SCH 40 street san tee, with the side and top fitted with a street adapter for tubular. If I line the top of that to the bottom of the disposer outlet bottom, I should be able to see if the bottom of this tee is at or higher than the wall connection. If it's higher, then I can hard pipe in the rest with SCH 40 parts. If it's lower than I can't do it.
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Author:
KCRoto (MO)
If you wanted to you could use a 1.5 in flanged tailpiece from the disposal into an end waste outlet similar to what you have now, but the T would be positioned higher.
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