Advancing in Reverse

[Chuck52]

As I was working on a slow bathroom drain the other day, it occured to me that the cause of the slow flow was the same as every other time I had worked on a slow bathroom drain. Whoever invented the common bathroom sink and tub drain plug design must have then invented drain cleaners so he could clean up on the mess he created. Those little mechansims which replaced the old-fashioned stopper-type plugs with an in-drain plug operated by a remote lever seem to be specifically designed to catch hair and crud going down the tube. Plus, because the mechanism is above the drain trap, any cleaner you put down the drain will mostly run past the incipient clog without really affecting it. Very clever. I bet the inventor's name was Draino.

Less cynically, I suppose this could just be another one of those results of the Law of Unintended Consequences. Any other examples?

Chuck

 

[Farmwithjunk]

That little gizmo is called a "pop-up".

Our old house originally had bathroom vanity sinks without pop-ups. My wifes mother somehow dropped a cap off of a bottle (NOT a whiskey bottle either as I accused her of /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) down the drain. Without the pop-up mechanism there to catch it, the cap went further on down the line, THEN became lodged. A sewer auger wouldn't touch it. Draino/liquid fire/caustic/ect. wouldn't touch it.

It took a Sawzall, 4-1/2 hours, and me raving and ranting the entire time to open the drain back up.

Did I mention how much I love my mother-in-law?

 

[MossRoad]

I just repaired ours two nights ago. Two screws out, replace a cotter pin, two screws back. Five minute job. I was dissappointed... thought it would take me at least an hour and two or three trips to the hardware store. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Chuck52]

It's usually not difficult to remove and clean the pop-up, but many (most?) folks faced with a slow drain will dump drain cleaner down first, because that's what all the advertisements say to do. Even when it works, it doen't get all the crud, and the drain will slow down again pretty soon.

Anyway, it just seemed like one of those "improvements" that create their own new problems. Like electric windows in cars, that are wonderful until they break, and then there's no way to open or close them. Labor-saving devices often don't.

Chuck