The garage sink pipe that made me question basic physics

I was under my sink in Tucson last Saturday trying to figure out why water was pooling under the drain, and it turned out the P-trap was installed upside down by the previous owner. After 3 hours of wrenching and a trip to Home Depot for a $12 replacement pipe, I got it dripping free. Has anyone else found a secret DIY disaster lurking in their own house?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole_baker1mo ago

The 3 hours part is where I gotta push back hard. I fixed a similar drain issue in my Phoenix rental in 45 minutes flat using just a bucket and a pair of channel locks. Most P-traps are literally two nuts and a slip joint, you were probably overcomplicating it by overthinking the upside down thing. Did you actually try spinning it around with a wrench before driving to Home Depot? I bet you could have saved that $12 and just flipped yours.

jenny471mo ago

Jumping right in here - @cole_baker, did you just say 45 minutes?! I'm sitting here reading that with my mouth hanging open because I spent three hours wrestling that thing and still had to buy a new one. You're telling me you just flipped yours around with a bucket and channel locks? My pipes were so crusted with hard water gunk it looked like a science experiment, the slip nuts were basically cemented in place. I tried spinning it, I tried WD-40, I tried cussing at it in Spanish, nothing budged. Either you got lucky with some soft Phoenix water or you're the pipe whisperer of Arizona.

skyler_jackson271mo ago

Tucson hard water probably fused those threads solid, that's what ate your 3 hours.