When I leave work I will head straight to the H/W store to buy a rubber plunger, then to the super market to get some drain cleaner... and hope I can't fix it this way.
![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31+n10lD0EL._AC_.jpg)
you should be able to free any blocked tube with multitudes of 50 grams ...
No I can't do that !
![Scared :scared:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/scared.gif)
I still have 23 years to go to repay the bank / loan... can't afford to blow the house just yet....
So I went to the H/W store and left with a 7 Euro rubber plunger and a 5 Euro bottle of the most powerful drain cleaner they had.
Instructions on the bottle say that it's so powerful it will eat metal and stone/tiles.... so first thing I did was remove the little metal grill.
And.... oh... WTF is that.... the sink is PLUGGED with a big grey PVC plastic thingy ?!
![WTF? :wtf:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/wtf2.gif)
I removed it, it's hollow and shaped like a bowl, installed upside down...
Looks like it's meant to catch small debris to keep it from entering the drain pipe... but there is such a tiny gap/clearance between that bowl and its surroundings, that it took just a couple hair to clog it !
Once I removed it, I could see zero blockage in the drain, clear hole. Shoved the shower hand piece whatever its called, onto it, water flow full blast, and it drains just fine !
![Shocked :o](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
So the problem was this "chicane", which was too restrictive for its own good, was being counter productive. So I might as well remove it... the metal grill is plenty enough to keep debris out.
Or maybe I can put the chicane back in place and now I know this is the problem, simply pull it out when needed, and give the sink a good flush to remove the debris stuck in it.
So for 2 and half years now, I have been spending money, and polluting the environment, with a bottle of cleaner every 2 months.... when all it was was that clogged up chicane that takes 30 seconds to remove and rinse/clean... oh dear....
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/facepalm.gif)
I apologize, my dear planet / environment, lesson learned...
Well the cleaner and rubber plunger I will keep anyway, cost me only 12 Euros total, and can always be useful, for real this time, one day...
PS : I survived my first day of training at work. Think I will survive the second and last training day tomorrow, but don't think I will survive Thursday and Friday once I am left on my own. Oh well....
Girl I am replacing will land at another Airbus plant literally down the road (where I was for 3+ years before I got fired), doing other stuff... I managed to get her to give me her personal phone number so I can contact her in case I am in great distress / panic / hitting a brick wall. Turns out she is not as incompetent as the manager said she was.... she manages just fine.... it's just that it's not her cup of tea (she is not very technical savvy at all), and just prefers to go do something else... She stayed only for one month.. and apparently had only one single day of training back then ! So me having TWO days with her, is quite an improvement I guess !
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/facepalm.gif)