Crooked Emily: I’m pretty good at minor repairs EXCEPT plumbing so pls help: After 40 days, the property management company finally fixed my dishwasher that wouldn’t spray since that day (Thursday) I can’t run water in the kitchen sink for more than 60 seconds without it backing up wtf did they do??

I’m pretty good at minor repairs EXCEPT plumbing so pls help: After 40 days, the property management company finally fixed my dishwasher that wouldn’t spray since that day (Thursday) I can’t run water in the kitchen sink for more than 60 seconds without it backing up wtf did they do??

I checked the air gap and it seems fine, but I haven’t been able to cook since Thursday as I can’t clean anything, and I told them about it but they haven’t done a single thing

Two things I can think of. Either the new dishwasher drain hose is kinked, or when they put it in, crud got into the drain trap. It would probably involve removing the pipe, snaking it, and seeing if that cleared it up.

Ok that will make me puke so I guess I have to wait for a real plumber 🥲

Not a plumber, caveat emptor. But presuming the dishwasher drain connects to your sink drain, perhaps they dislodged a bunch of crap/crud and your sink drain or ptrap is clogged. Try one of those cheap diy snake things from a hardware store. If you’re feeling adventurous, open up your ptrap to clean

good guess that this is exactly what happened

seconded

Thirded.

half a clog somewhere past where the dishwasher and sink drains meet up. potential options to try: you can try letting it fill with water a bit then plunging with toilet plunger pour some baking soda and vinegar in there drain snake drano

i should have started by reading other replies because i think you got all these already

here this might be helpful to someone - lots of people use toilet plungers wrong dont try to push water/air in with the plunger, try to slowly push in to create a watertight seal and then wiggle the plunger back and forth in a jerk off motion to move all the water back and forth and break the jam

Jerk off motion, you say? I got this

(so glad I read this entire thread despite having nothing to contribute 😆 )

Is that why plumbers are so sexy?

I also learned a while back that plungers and toilet plungers are two different things and now I own both

yeah i wasnt accurate here but what we think of as a standard old style plunger is better on sinks and tubs, things with a flat surface to make a seal the ones with the larger shaped flaps are designed for toilets but anything that makes a good seal works

Back up in supply or backing up in waste/drain?

Does the drain for the dishwasher go to a garbage disposal? If so, have you run the disposal recently? Also, when you run the dishwasher, does the sink back up?

Yes and yes, and I’ve been too scared to run the dishwasher since 🫣

Okay, first thing I’d try would be to run some hot water and turn on the disposal once it backs up into the sink. If that doesn’t do it, I’d pull the trap under the sink (put a bucket under it) and make sure that’s clear. You can also run the sink with the trap off to make sure the disposal drains.

If that’s all clear,I’d make sure it’s not clogged where the pipe goes in the wall as far as I can see (they make plastic, barbed strips you can push in there to check for clogs) Beyond that, a plumber can snake the drain.

I’m going to get just drunk enough that I can do this and find it funny rather than gross

Draino might work too. If it’s a grease clog in the wall, it can break it up.

yes BUT! Learn from my mistake, the second you put Draino in the sink the garbage disposal is OFF LIMITS (you don't want to spray drain cleaner around your kitchen)

Running water in the sink backs up the sink drain or backs up into the dishwasher?

Backs up the sink. It never happened before Thursday and wasn’t a slow drain or anything

Full disclosure: I did apartment maintenance for six years while on hiatus from cooking. When I’d get a call like this, I’d start by pouring boiling water slowly down the drain. There could be a number of reasons it’s backing up and all of them are gross. An electric kettle is the best tool.

The “all of them are gross” is what scares me. I haven’t lived here long but god knows who else did those first 14 years

Well, the nasty can’t jump unless someone helps it. Do you have a plunger and tried using it?

The plunger can lead to spraying nasty water is all. That’s why I like to use hot water.

Like,, a toilet plunger 😳

I bet they clogged the drain with something. Usually dishwasher and sink have common drains after p traps. @rouxgarou.bsky.social can explain better I bet. Unfortunately two things. 1) turn off water check drain under sink 2) pull dishwasher back out and start over there

Clogged drain for sure, possibly whatever was causing the spray issues caught up somewhere down the line. Start at the P-trap, remove and check for obstructions. Shine a flashlight if you can from sink down, look for anything there also. If both of those are clear, clog is behind the trap and 1/2

I'd let the prop. mgmt comp handle. You can try to snake it yourself if you're motivated, maybe straighten a wire hanger and try to get it around the bends. None of this is terribly difficult, just messy. Have a bowl or something to catch water, plus more towels than you think you'll need 2/2

this has to be something with the air gap??

Do you have a double sink or single sink? You can get a flashlight and if you have white PVC drains, you can shine it into the side and you should be able to see what is going on in there. Maybe you can tell where the clog is.

Double and yes on white PVC!

Do they drain into the same or separate “holes” in the wall? If “double holes”, does one drain and one is backed up? You should be able to see in the white pvc with a flashlight on the side

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