The sink flange is a vital component of your kitchen sink plumbing. It is specially designed to provide a watertight seal between the drain pipe and the kitchen sink basket. However, its exposure to different types of elements like temperature fluctuations and water pressure contributes to its deterioration. It will sooner or later break down thus resulting to a nasty leak. Now while the leak won’t totally flood your kitchen cabinet, you should know that immediate repair should still be done to prevent the water from inflicting damage on your property. Here’s a DIY guide on how to repair the kitchen sink drain.
1. If you have a garbage disposal installed in your sink, make sure that you’ll turn the circuit breaker off first. Doing so will prevent the onset of accidents while you’re working on your sink.
2. Once you’ve turned the disposer off, remember to clear out the kitchen sink cabinet. That should give you enough space to work on the drain pipe.
3. Turn the water supply valve off to prevent flooding.
4. Now get a bucket and put it right under the sink pipe. It will catch any remaining water trapped inside the pipe.
5. If you’re ready, start by loosening the kitchen sink drainpipe with the use of your wrench. If it won’t budge, you can warm the pipe with a heating pad or a blow dryer. You may also spray the pipe with penetrating oil.
6. Afterwards, loosen the nuts that hold the flange to the sink. If your flange has nuts and bolts, just remove the nuts and then afterwards push the bolts upward. That should detach the nuts.
7. Now carefully lift the flange from the sink. If it won’t budge as well, you can use a flathead screwdriver to pry it off.
8. Get rid of the old rubber gasket on the sink flange and then clean the latter with a wire brush to remove the old putty. Also take time to clean along the edges of the sink hole. That should keep the area clean and ready for the new installation.
9. Once the sink is clean, carefully apply plumber’s putty along the sink hole, just right at the spot where it will connect with the flange. Put a new rubber gasket onto the sink flange. When the flange is ready, put it in place.
10. Tighten the nuts at the bottom of the flange. Reconnect the pipe using your wrench. If you see any excess putty that has oozed out of the flange, wipe it off with a clean rag right away.
11. Turn the water supply valve on and run the tap. Observe the connection under the sink and make sure that there are no leaks. If the new flange has been installed properly, you can turn the garbage disposal machine’s circuit breaker on again and use your sink as usual.
We hope that we showed you what to do with a kitchen sink drain leaking. If the problem persists, just call a reputable Rockville plumbing to repair your sink. Plumbers 911 Washington DC provides top-notch plumbing services in Rockville MD including drain cleaning, faucet repair, leak detection, plumbing fixtures repair, backflow prevention and many more! Call us now at (877) 932-5325 to schedule a service!
Learn how easy it is to remove a kitchen sink. Watch this video now.
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