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Question:

Plastic tube in sink pipe?

hi I don't really know a lot about plumbing but today my bathroom sink was clogged so I took the j looking pipe apart and when I did a plastic tube looking thing fell out from the first pipe and when I tried to put everything back together that thing wouldn't stay. help?

Answer:

the word here that is of importance iseverything. Obviously the plastic tube is an integral part of the assembly. It is not there to look pretty. So, it must be a collar (like a choker) that fits very tightly on one piece and under another. The screw nut then squeezes the outer one. It is like taking your hand and putting it in a glove and then putting that gloved hand in a woodchipper
Go to a hardware store or a big store like WalMart and ask where the plumbing section is, then while in that aisle ask where the j-tube and other undersink plumbing parts are. It's easier to install new stuff than it is to try to fix old stuff that might be brittle. Also get some pipe dope and telfon tape. Teflon is a brand name but there are a lot of companies that make the same kind of thin PTFE tape. It's not a sticky tape.
You did the right thing to clear the clog. Work from the far end and toward the sink. You probably have a j pipe with threads on one end, and a straight clean pipe on the other. The threads go to the big white nut coming out of the wall, and the straight piece goes up into the drain from the sink. There's a greyish white washer which is bevelled on one side -- that goes around the straight pipe, and the threaded nut goes on it first. So when you push the straight pipe into the drain, the threads on the drain pipe connect to the threads on the j pipe nut, with the washer between, bevel edge facing the sink. Still confused? You tube has a video (or maybe hundreds) showing how to do this.

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