How I Fixed My Own Leaky Kitchen Sink Pipes when I Got Tired of Waiting on My Husband to Do It

After I had waited for two years for my husband to get around to fixing the leaking pipes under the kitchen sink, I finally took matters into my own hands and fixed the darned thing myself. Here’s how I managed to do it without wrecking the place!

I had always considered myself to be the anti-Bob Vila, the epitome of someone who doesn’t “do it yourself.” But necessity has pressed me to re-invent myself as the resident fix-it expert. For two years, my husband had promised me he would fix the leak under the kitchen sink. This leak made it impossible to use the right basin, except for bagging up food waste for composting and temporarily holding the overflow of dirty dishes that wouldn’t fit into the overcrowded left basin.

The Problem at Hand

The problem was this: the house had been built in a somewhat haphazard manner, as a hunting retreat about 18 years ago. We moved in about 11 years ago, and we slowly discovered the place was (much) less than perfect. The under-sink plumbing was PVC, and the descending drain on the right side somehow stood almost apart from the adjoining pipe under it (that leads to the P-trap — see photos). Whenever liquids drained from the right basin above, most of the water swooshed down through the pipes like it should, but a small portion got caught in this imperfect joint, and it would bubble over and drip onto whatever happened to be under the pipe.

I quickly learned to station a container underneath the pipe to catch this drip, but it made for a nasty and mildew-conducive under-sink atmosphere, and I couldn’t store anything down there. After 2 years of putting up with this unfortunate flaw in the kitchen plumbing, something snapped in my brain. I ran out and picked up a simple standard PVC sink pipe replacement kit at Walmart and brought it home. Then the fear kicked in. What if I got the pipes off and I couldn’t get the replacements on? This led to my creation of a not-quite-architectural drawing of the under-sink pipe setup, complete with measurements from each slip-joint to slip-joint.

Not a Smooth Operation

It is lucky I did made a drawing, because I noticed that the replacement horizontal cross pipe was significantly longer than my old cross pipe. The diagram I had made allowed me to quickly determine the difference, and mark the spot where I should cut the pipe to fit.

I rummaged through my toolboxes (we have at least six, each for different purposes) and found two handsaws. I used the hacksaw, but it was slow going. It could have been even slower, but my ninja training had taught me to use a push-cut, and I learned after the fact that this push-cut was the correct way to make a hacksaw cut! I did not secure the pipe with a vise, mostly because I didn’t have a vise to hand and I didn’t want to mar my wood counters by screwing one down to it.

I put the pipe across overturned plastic containers, one of which had previously caught the heinous drip. Slow, straight push-cuts eventually weakened the PVC to where I could snap it the rest of the way, and for a desperate housewife, that was good enough.

The other problem I encountered in my project was getting the pipes to join evenly. If you take a look at my finished job, you will see that the cross pipe angles upward from left to right, and there is a slight asymmetry to the setup. I assure you that the asymmetry was there at the outset. When you live in rural Tennessee, you come to expect things like this.

The Basic Step-By-Step

Remove old pipes. The screw-off joins (slip-joints) made this relatively easy, and the leaking pipe was already halfway there! Check the lengths of provided replacement pipe against the measurements previously made. (Here is where the hacksaw comes in). Fit the replacement pipes in, using O-rings and Teflon (PTFE) tape. I did the right side descending and partial P-trap segments first, then fit the cut down cross pipe to the left drain and the right side perpendicular receptacle shown in photos.* Check all joins for secure fits and adequate pressure (i.e., none of them seem to want to strain against the seals, as this will lead to eventual leakage once again). Run water and check the seals. Rejoice that I can finally use the right side of the sink again!

Fixing Irregularities

I joined each section of pipe using the provided screw-on joints with their accompanying small plastic O-rings. The old O-rings in my existing sink setup were definitely in need of replacing, so I used all the new ones, even though I didn’t use every piece of piping (see green-shaded photo to see which ones I did replace). Since I had a slightly lop-sided setup, not all of the O-rings provided an absolutely secure fit, although most of them were good enough for my purposes.

For those that needed some help, there was a handy roll of Teflon tape (see tools photo). This small roll contains about 1/2 inch wide, very thin white flexible “tape” (it isn’t sticky) that helps to secure a seal around a threaded joint when pulled tight around it. I discovered this wondrous bit of technology while working with a hydrogen gas-fueled furnace during my car battery research days. Wrap a length of this tape around the threads (a length slightly over one full circumference of the pipe) and then screw in the joint securely.

The troublesome original descending right basin drain pipe turned out to be slightly shorter than the standard replacement I put in. It looks like whoever put the plumbing in may have cut too much off that particular pipe in the first place and not bothered to do anything about it. Luckily, the replacement was exactly the right length, and I had little difficulty with this part of the replacement process. The entire operation (not counting the initial drawing) took about 2-1/2 hours, but it would probably go faster for someone with more experience.

*Tip for a Better Pipe Fit: There is a range of length that would have worked for the central cross pipe, and I decided it is better to go slightly over, rather than slightly under, the average guidance. It is always easier to take off extra material than to seal up an inadequate length at the joint. The perpendicular side-pipe socket that accepts the cross pipe on the right side has an area that allows the cross pipe to be seated well inside the socket. There is a small amount of variability in length that will work in this socket. I cut the pipe slightly longer than half this tolerance, so that it would sit securely and the physical force at the join would be somewhat absorbed and supported by the extra contact between the pipe end and the socket.

Other repairs I’ve done:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8354001/how_i_fixed_a_16yearold_kenmore_dryer.html?cat=3

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8344205/hillbilly_engineering_how_i_replugged.html?cat=15


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