Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sink

How to fix weird sink smell

tomwheeler — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:10:07 -0800

Lately the cold water in my bathroom sink has a musty odor when I first turn on the tap. What should I do to fix this? Last year we installed a new sink and it worked great for many months afterwards. For the last few months, I've noticed that the cold water smells moldy (kind of like lake water) when I first turn it on. The smell disappears after I've run it for about 20 seconds.

Strangely, the hot water from the same sink does not have this smell, nor does either the cold or hot water in the shower in the same bathroom have it. In fact, no other sinks in the house seem to have this problem.

I saw this similar post but it's for a kitchen sink/garbage disposal, so the advice doesn't seem to apply. Is there anything I can do, aside from calling a plumber, to fix this problem?

I'm going to bloody well fix this Xbox myself.

Frasermoo — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:11:33 -0800

Help me fix my Xbox 360. I'm looking for documentation on a tried and tested fix for the red rings on the 360. Having been through multiple consoles, I've decided to try the X clamp fix myself. Has anyone here done it themselves? What instructions did you follow? Was it successful?

No it doesn't leak like that, it leaks like this.

fiercekitten — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:05:54 -0800

PlumbingFilter: My google-fu is failing me and need help finding directions on fixing our bathroom sink faucet. It only leaks when it's turned on and not from around the handles. Most of the internet directions are for fixing faucets that drip all the time or stopping a leak around the fixture handles when it's turned on. Maybe my problem is like one of these two, but the symptoms are completely different and I'm not a plumber. The upper part of the fixture (where the handles are) remains completely dry when it's turned on, but there's a steady leak on the underside of the faucet when you turn the hot or cold on. It drips down the piece connecting the drain pull to the drain plug, so it seems to be coming from the place where the water comes out (the stem?). It's a compression faucet (I was able to figure that much out), doesn't drip when it's off and doesn't leak around the handles at all when it's on. It looks like this, only not in pieces.

I'm sure it's an easy enough fix and since I have all the time in the world at the moment, I want to have a go at it. If we have to replace the fixture, that's OK, but if it's just a washer or some plumber's tape I would feel dumb replacing the whole thing.

Housemate doesn't clean up after himself. Help.

dunkadunc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:58:24 -0800

My housemate doesn't clean up, like ever. How can I do to make things work, or at least more bearable? I've been sharing an apartment since the beginning of September with an old acquaintance, and everything's been going well enough. EXCEPT:
My housemate doesn't help out with the cleaning. Every day I come home to even more mess, and it's starting to really bug me.

Some background here: My housemate and I are both 23, male, and college seniors. We went to high school together but lost touch after graduation. I was looking for a housemate for an apartment I found this August, and a mutual friend said Housemate (whose mom died last year) was looking for a place as well. We signed a lease, moved in and started school, so far so good.
The first hint I got that Housemate wasn't very good at cleaning was about a week in when he asked me what "rinsing" dishes meant. Since then, he's remained pleasant, but the amount of housework he's done has gone from little to almost none.

The main problems:
-His dishes stay dirty in the sink either until I wash them or there are no more clean ones, whereupon he washes a dirty one, uses it, and puts it back in the sink. The same thing goes for pots and pans. I can count the number of times he's washed all the dishes in the sink on one hand, and even then they've come out covered in brown curry grease and needed to be washed again.

-When asked to wash his dirty pots and pans that were filling up the sink, Housemate was surprised that I would want them to be cleaned even if I wasn't immediately going to use them. Housemate said that he would wash them before he needed them again "only as a favor". He cooks about four gallons of curry every two weeks.

-Although he was willing to split the cost of a $50 vacuum cleaner, the only time he's picked up a broom was when he broke a glass. He's been leaving brown greasy globs of curry on all the kitchen surfaces and covers the floor in oil when he cooks. All these problems with cleaning up have carried over to the bathroom as well.

Apart from all this, he's been a decent housemate, asking if I want to watch cartoons or split a pizza or whatnot, or coming out to parties with me.
I've talked to him about washing dishes and cleaning up around the apartment, and he's always said "sure"- the problem is it doesn't end up happening. He tends to drink beers and watch cartoons when he's done with schoolwork and doesn't have anything to do, so it seems like a combination of procrastination and just not knowing how to run a household: his mom used to do all the housekeeping.

What can I do to encourage him to do his share of housework, or failing that, what can I do to minimize the amount of mess I have to deal with? Ideally, we would clean up after ourselves, and if someone else missed something then the other would clean it, no problem.
I don't want to be that passive-aggressive guy, but something's got to change, since I'd like to be able to have guests over without feeling embarrassed. I'd be tempted to only clean up after myself, but I'm afraid the apartment would be taken over by maggots.

Gardening in the sink

bradly — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:13:00 -0800

What indoor plants or herbs can I grow in this repurposed children's sink? The ideal plant would have a carpet-like sheet of foliage (if a non-herbal plant) or be something I could use around the kitchen.

This is in a bedroom, but quite a bit of sunlight can be given if needed.

FWIW, the 'sink' doesn't have any drainage.

Thanks in advance!

Clean pipes vs. leaky sink

swrittenb — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:41:37 -0800

What did I botch when reconnecting the pipes under my kitchen sink, causing them to start leaking? Picture included below, with the leak indicated. So, I pulled out the trusty auger to unclog a slow draining sink, and retrieved a bunch of gunk from the pipes. TMI? Anyway, I cleaned out a bunch of crud that had accumulated along the pipes as well, and reattached the pieces. In this picture, you can see the culprit - it's a p-trap that should just screw on to the next bit. Unfortunately now, there's a small leak right in the inside U. Have I not tightened it enough, or is it too tight? Is it not aligned properly? Is there a washer missing in there (don't think this is the case, but IANAP)?

Please help! My wife is angry that I'm doing dishes in the laundry sink downstairs! :(

How do you find a good plumber?

Teira — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:40:34 -0800

How does one go about finding a good plumber anyway? So I've got this bathroom pedestal lav that's nearly completely borked. The cold tap doesn't turn off (so I keep having to switch it off at the source), the thing's come dislodged from the wall, and as a result of that, the drain pipe's come disconnected. I've tried to get in there myself but my basic knowledge of fit-pipe-A-into-pipe-B-and-pray-a-bit doesn't really seem to be doing anything. It's time for a plumber. Problem is, I'm absolutely terrified by all the plumber horror stories I've seen all over this site and others.

Anyone have some suggestions as to how I should go about my search, and what kinds of things I should be asking/looking for to ensure I don't get hosed?

What's the best way to go about replacing my kitchen sink and faucet?

aburd — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:13:32 -0800

What's the best way to go about replacing my kitchen sink and faucet? I have $1500-2000 that I can put towards a sink, faucet, and disposal. I also need the under sink plumbing worked over (there is a persistent leak). Should I source the whole thing piece by piece and then hire a plumber? Should I just get a plumber to sell me the whole thing? How do I know if I'm getting hosed? What's the best way to do this?

Slow faucet needs more pressure.

backseatpilot — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:13:23 -0800

I need some plumbing help with regards to a slow faucet. The landlord is dragging her feet on getting this fixed, so I thought I'd try to do it myself as long as it turns out to be a minor problem. Our kitchen sink has terrible water pressure - it takes about a full minute to fill a pint glass with water, which makes the sink difficult to use. I had just chalked it up to generally low pressure in the entire apartment until a plumber came out for a burst water heater and mentioned that the sink pressure was abnormally low.

The sink is just a standard stainless steel job, one basin, with a sprayer (also low pressure). The dishwasher and plumbing in the bathroom seem to be fine. Hot and cold are equally slow.

Where should I start looking? Any ideas what might be causing it?

Plumbing fail - clogged kitchen sink

wongcorgi — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:28:50 -0800

Clogged kitchen sink, what can I try next? I have a clogged kitchen sink. I've snaked the drain starting under the sink with a 6ft length and a 25 footer with no luck. I've done it about 5 times with some chunks coming back but still have 0 flow, each time filling the drain up with boiling water. The last two time using drano, waiting a few hours then the water.

My plan is to get a longer snake, but how long do I need? I'm thinking that if I can just keep pushing, the clog will just fall into a larger pipe (?) If my thinking is wrong, please let me know. I just don't want to have to keep buying progressively longer tools (I bought the 6ft and 25ft so far).

Or if anyone has any other ideas...? I've also tried a wet vac blowing as well as vacuuming with no luck as well as spirited plunging of the above drain.

I'd rather not call the a plumber ($$).

Help me shave without a sink!

indiebass — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:51:19 -0800

How do I shave without a sink? My bathroom sink won't drain at the moment. After a few seconds of water coming out of the faucet I have standing water that doesn't go down for a couple of hours. The landlord is coming out to fix this (supposedly) but it's been a couple weeks, and he told me he'd be here on Monday, but I don't think he was here Monday, and I need a shave today.

I use the badger brush and high quality soap as well as the double-edged single blade safety razor, so when I do shave I actually look forward to it and enjoy it a lot.

The other part of the problem is that I can't shave in the shower because there's barely enough hot water in this place to take a shower, much less shower + shave. (I live in a house that's been converted to two apartments, there's a family beneath me and basically a hot water heater big enough for one household, not two) So, overarching problems with the apartment aside, how can I shave without a sink?

Usually I run hot water, lather up the face, and after each pass of the blade, clean it with running water and put blade to face again. I tried keeping a mug of hot water next to the sink and rinsing the blade in it, but all the soap and hairs would float on the top after a couple passes, so I wasn't really cleaning my blade and everything was getting kind of gross.

So what's the solution? I know gentlemen have shaved for centuries without the benefit of running water, but how can *I* do it today? My google-fu has failed me spectacularly in this area. Thanks, as always, in advance! MeFi is the best.

alternatives to a ikea washbasin?

buttercup — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:40:05 -0800

Any similar sinks out there to the Ikea HÖLLVIKEN bathroom sink? I like the size and shape of this basin, but want to get some other options. Also, if anyone knows anything about the quality of this sink, those comments would also be appreciated.

How is my kitchen like the Internet?

Who_Am_I — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:08:47 -0800

Should I be getting a break on my rent because my kitchen pipes are clogged? Last Wednesday evening, my kitchen sink backed up pretty bad. Then I noticed that the cabinet area under the sink had some (~1-2 liters) standing water, and that the carpet next to the kitchen was getting wet from underneath. We stopped using the sink and dishwasher, aimed a fan at the carpet, and my roommate called our landlord the next morning. Nobody came out Thursday, and when he called back Friday they said that somehow they hadn't got the work order in and now it would be Monday before anyone could come out.

Plumber came out Monday and has been working on it since. He said it is a very bad clog, broke his plumber's snake trying to clear it, and now is excavating part of our building to get at the pipes from underneath. So it is being worked on, but now it has been more than a week since we could really use our kitchen. Basically all of our dishes are on the kitchen counter, and I've had to eat out most every meal, as we've run out of clean dishes to cook with. On top of that our carpet is still damp and a bit discolored, and our apartment has started to smell.

Now if this were our fault of course we would suck it up and be glad that they were fixing it, but I don't think that's the case. Neither me nor my roommate put much of anything solid down the drain, and it all goes through the disposal. Our kitchen shares pipes with (at least) our neighbor through the wall, and we are suspecting that it is his fault (gross: when the sink backed up a bunch of rice came with the water, which neither me nor my roommate had made for months). A few people have mentioned that we should not be responsible for all of our rent this month because of the state of our apartment. Does this seem like a reasonable thing to request, or is this just one of those things that happens? If it is appropriate, what would be a realistic reduction to seek?

Water pitcher won't fit in our sink

mutrux — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:40:13 -0800

I recently saw an ad for a water filter pitcher that has a little hose stored in the handle that attaches to the water tap. Can anyone tell me who makes this product? The only source of water in my office is a small sink in the washroom, and it is not deep enough to fit a water pitcher into. I'm thinking this hose-attached pitcher could be the answer to our hydration needs. Other ideas on how to supply clean drinking water to my staff are welcome.

TechFilter: Help me find a replacement fan for my Arctic Cooling heatsink.

judge.mentok.the.mindtaker — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:05:24 -0800

TechFilter: Help me find a replacement fan for my Arctic Cooling heatsink. I went for the Freezer 64 Pro AC heatsink for my AM2 mobo, and boy was it great, except for the somewhat incompatible mounting bracket for my AMB board. A combination of that, and someones wild dog in my room caused the heatsink to drop off the case. I've since rectified the mounting issues, but the fall has damaged the bearing in my fan, making it unbearably loud.

The AC heatsink/fan combos are mounted with like rubber grommets instead of screws, so I am not sure what the correct fan is to purchase to swap out with the existing one. I'd rather not have to buy a whole new heatsink. I've built my own PC's all my life, so some assembly required is OK.

Strange sink/dishwasher drainage issues

gwint — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:38:11 -0800

Why does my sink only drain when the dishwasher is running? The sink drains fine for half the day, but then slowly but surely begins to clog. But-- if we run the dishwasher, some time in the middle of the cycle the sink will drain and start working properly. Also, occasionally we'll wake up in the morning and there will be about half an inch of brown water in the sink (no bad smell though, so it's not raw sewage) We're on the 5th floor of a 10 story building. I've already dumped a container of Drano down to no effect. Any idea what's going on?

What is a dense/heavy transparant oil or inert/safe non-water-based liquid?

-harlequin- — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:28:15 -0800

I need a crystal-clear transparent liquid that is as heavy (dense) or heavier than water, not dangerous, and not difficult to obtain. The heavier the better. The catch - it can't be water-based. I'm trying to suspend (or at least swirl) a non-soluble coloured powder in a liquid as part of a gift, but I can't use water as this will react with and ruin the powder over time. Oils preserve the powder nicely, but the density of the two that I've tried (baby oil, and liquid paraffin) is too low - they are too light to float the powder for very long and so it settles to the bottom fairly quickly. I can't choose a lighter or more durable powder either, so I'm looking for a heavier liquid.

This list of the density of 150 liquids helps a little, but I don't recognize (by chemical name) most of the liquids, even though some I might already have around the house, so I was wondering if you have any insights.

As with water, reactive chemicals like acid will ruin the powder. (Also, acids are a too much of an irritant/danger to want to put into a gift)

I'm hoping for something I could buy at the local department store or hardware store. I don't really want to order something from a specialist or chemical supplier.

Realistically, I suspect my best bet is a heavy but transparent oil, so it probably won't even be as dense as water, but at least something denser than baby oil. Any idea what that might be?

And if you were wondering, it turns out that paraffin floats on baby oil :-)

Is putting a sink in the bedroom too bizarre?

amanda — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:46:53 -0800

Real Estate Filter! I'm thinking of doing a little addition to my house which would add bigger closets, create a bigger master bedroom and add another bathroom. I'm considering one feature which I can't decide whether it would be too weird or not... ...a sink in the master bedroom.

When I lived over in England, all the bedrooms in our house had a sink and vanity in them and I thought it was great. Perfect for families and really handy. I miss that sink! My idea is to create a kickass walk-in double shower and toilet room off the master and put a sink right outside that door, in the master bedroom. I'm trying to keep the addition in line with the house and not take over too much of the yard -- it's a small lot.

I have two questions for anyone who has bought or sold houses in the U.S. -- as a buyer, would this just look totally weird to you? Would it be akin to seeing a toilet in the living room in terms of seeming "not right"? Also, I've got a question out to our last realtor as to how that would look in a listing -- would it have to be listed as a 1.5 bath house? Anyone know?

My kitchen sink has fallen, and it can't get up!

elmwood — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:00:06 -0800

What kind of adhesive is used to secure an undermount kitchen sink to the underside of a countertop? I have an undermount stainless steel kitchen sink suspended underneath a Corian countertop. While a normal kitchen sink rests on the surface of a kitchen countertop, an undermounted sink is suspended from below, attached to the countertop using a special high-strength adhesive.

Today, when I came home from work, I found that one of the sink basins dropped; something happened with the adhesive, and the basin came loose and fell from underneath the countertop. This isn't supposed to happen, but considering the seemingly weekly loads of fail my moneypit of a house have been giving me the past year, I'm not surprised.

There's a special type of adhesive that is used to mount stainless sinks underneath Corian countertops. However, a half hour of searching through Google found nothing more than the fact that ... well, a special kind of adhesive is used. What kind of adhesive, though ... no such luck. Anyone handier than me any ideas?

Coffee grounds and water systems

Brockles — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:50:34 -0800

A coffee related, although mildly different, question that doesn't involve waste disposal units like the ones in the search seem to... I have been washing my coffee grounds down the sink. They are, in my mind, biodegradable and pretty small after they have gone through the filter thing in the sink. They aren't, I'd say, going to clog anything.

Now I know there are many many opinions about the 'not washing it down the sink/disposal unit' and all that, but they seem to revolve around 'the rubbish (I believe some call it 'trash' or 'garbage', bless their colonial hearts) is a better place for it'.

But no hint of as to why. Well? What will it damage at the water treatment plant? What affect will it have except for, perhaps, giving the place a mildly pleasant hint of an odour of good coffee? (and god knows, those places need something...

So. What will it damage? What harm can it do? Is there a good reason not to put it in the rubbish or the sink? I'm not looking for personal opinion, as much as scientific fact and demonstration of 'bad things' (tm) one way or the other.

Ta.

Why would room temperature water be coming out of the faucet when I turn on the cold water tap?

ND¢ — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:17:10 -0800

When I turn the cold water tap, the faucets in my upstairs bathroom are putting out room temperature water. How do I fix this? No other faucets in the house appear to be doing this. These are two sinks that are part of a double bowl vanity in our master bath. The hot water works fine. Cold water appears to come out of the bathtub and shower fine too. The water coming out of the faucet when the cold tap is turned is not murky or unpleasant or anything, it just isn't cold. Any advice would be appreciated. I can answer questions, but I am not very handy so I may not know many of the answers to them.

Mystery sink

mateuslee — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:09:31 -0800

Why would a sink in a public bathroom which had an automatic water sensor suddenly turn on even though there was no one nearby? So my friend was in the bathroom in the university, it is a modern one and so there she was washing her hands and as she goes to dry them, a sink some distance away suddenly turned on. Weird! She asked me why this would happen. I thought maybe because a fly flew by or something, but this isn't really such a great answer. Plus, there aren't many flies in the 11th floor public bathroom. Maybe some of you have an interesting theory?

Where should we install our water filter?

steve.wdc — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:47:08 -0800

We got a new under the sink water filter and are trying to decide where to put it. Our stainless steel sink is set into the granite, so no free holes to sneak the faucet into - we'll have to drill a hole in the granite. Where on the granite do we install it? Most people install faucets by the original sink faucet. But we currently have a Brita gallon filter to the side of the sink and that's very convenient for filling up pots for cooking and for getting water when the sink is in use.

This is a permanent 1/2" hole. In the granite. Here's what the new faucet/spout looks like. For potential resale of our house, is putting the new faucet where the Brita is a huge mistake?

Photo and room for photo notes here.

Why does my dishwasher fill up my sink?

aofl — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:11:59 -0800

Why does my dishwasher fill up my sink? I've just moved to an apartment that is old but filled with new amenities. Everything works fine but when I run the dishwasher it fills up my sink with water. The only way I can empty the sink is to run the disposal. The main problem is that the sink can fill to overflowing, which means I have to monitor it while the dishwasher is working.

Granted, it's the apartment manager's responsibility to fix this, but I want to understand what is going on. Why won't my sink drain unless I run the disposal?

Removing metallic stain from sink

beniamino — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:01:22 -0800

Our white porcelain enamel sink has a stain on it. The stain is silver/grey and seems to have resulted from dropping a steel cup into the sink (probably repeatedly). Two related questions: Is it possible to stain a sink in this way? And how can we remove the stain?