Dirty, dirty shisno

For those of you who aren't in the know, this is what a shisno is: Red Vs. Blue - Shisno

Now that you're up to speed, I can say that I pulled a shisno out of my tub drain and you will understand what I'm talking about. I don't think I mentioned this before, but our tub drain was slow and getting slower by the day. Finally, it pretty much just stopped draining completely. Not really, but you'd have 4" of water in the tub at the end of a 10-minute shower.

So I figured we had a clog. I went to Lowe's to get some non-chemical stuff to clean it out. I got one of these: Zip-It and also one of these: Cobra Drain Cleaning Bladder

I used the Zip-it first to try to pull the hair clog out. I did exactly that. I used it probably a dozen times and every single time I pulled out a wad of hair and slime about the size of a racquetball. The smell is indescribable. I know for a fact they were inanimate, but their very form made it look like they were writhing. As I scooped them up with a gloves and a generous wad of tissue, I could hear them mewling at the agony of existence. Obviously, this could not stand. I thought I'd solved the problem, though. No way I could pull that much sheer mass out of the drain and still have it clogged, right? Apparently I misunderestimated the extent of my clog.

Time to get serious. I got this bladder and ran a house downstairs to the spigot out back so I could get some water pressure working on the bee-yotch.

You put it in this way because it's supposed to be able to get to the clog more directly.

Unfortunately, that's about as far in as I got it. The overflow drain makes a tight right angle right there and the brass fitting just couldn't turn the corner. So we had to get get the big guns.

There we are. This one isn't fooling around. And no, that's not my finger in the frame, it's the lens cover that didn't fully retract. I think my phone took one too many spills and maybe one too many winter camping trips.

Okay, I'm going to show you what I pulled out of the drain. Avert your eyes if you have a weak stomach or a heart condition.

Sick.

"Help....me...."

I wanted to do the heavy lifting without harsh chemicals on this one, since i knew it was mostly a hair clog and the only thing that really works on those is the giant bottle of sulfuric acid. So I got the drain clean enough for stuff to flow through, and then dumped this bottle down there to help scour the walls of the pipe a bit. I'm hoping that this will help prevent future clogs as well. Sort of like a plumbing stent, right?

Also, our sink was dripping. I have never fixed a sink before. Here is how it all worked out:

First, you turn off the valves under your sink and open the faucets to drain any excess water. Then, you pry off the cap and find a screw. Unscrew it.

They call this a "cartridge" for some reason. It's the newer sink part, so they're pretty easy to find. There's a ring holding it down, so you have to take that off.

You don't actually need to take it apart. The whole thing should come out as one piece but I didn't know that at the time.

Now do the other side. You could just replace one, but the parts are literally under $5 ea so it makes sense to replace both. If one is worn, it makes sense that the other will wear out soon anyway.

These are actually more like $2 ea, so the whole project was under $5. I like those projects.

Plug the new cartridges down into the holes and then add back all the rest in reverse order and you're set. It's a fast fix and doesn't take much in the way of tools or skills.

It feels good to be back! Thanks for reading.