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Home
and Family
Glug vs. Plug
by M. Steinberg
My kitchen sinks suffer from congenital stoppage. Congenital,
as in: from birth. The house was new when we moved in twenty
years ago, and from the first, the drainage was slow and
sometimes, very, very slow. Most of the time, I just let the
water fill up and then patiently wait a while for it to go
down before continuing to wash dishes.
Over the years, I've graduated from using the commercial
`drain-o' type materials which make a hole in the budget but
not in the glop, to caustic soda and straight huydrochloric
acid - never together, of course! But nothing helps for long.
Occasionally, I break down and call a plumber, who is a
frum fellow, just as much at home with a sefer
in hand as a wrench. After he visits, things flow smoothly
for a month or so but then the problem recurs.
In fairness to myself, I want you to know that I always pour
cooking grease into a bag and throw it away, not down the
sink hole. When I clean out my Shabbos candlesticks, I pour
the waxy water into a paper cup and out into the garden. And
I never forget to place the strainer properly in place. It is
really not my fault that there is a glop collection in the
undersink pipes.
Recently, after going through all the strong acids and
getting nowhere, my husband decided to try buying new parts
for under the sinks in the hope that he could correct the
angle of the flow and that would partially alleviate our
constant problem. The new parts looked nice and clean, but
the blockage persisted. As he was packing up the old parts in
the plastic bag that came with the new ones, he came across a
plain black rubber plug, one the accessories sold with the
new parts.
"Have we any use for this?" he asked. And a light bulb went
on in my brain. "YES! I remember something that just might
work." I ran to get our old trusty plunger, the stem of which
broke years ago from frequent and enthusiastic use. It is
about ten inches tall and the broken bit is covered with a
soda bottle cap wrapped in plastic tape. But it has served us
well, and I wouldn't discard it. I held the plug with a rag
very tightly in one sink while my husband plunged in the
other. It went `glug glug' and behold! The water flowed
down!
Just a plain, inexpensive black plug. There's a lesson here
somewhere, I'm sure. Often, when we have a chronic problem,
we look for exotic, expensive and complicated solutions. We
tiptoe carefully around these problems, making sure we won't
be blamed. We take precautions. We seek professional
advice.
And sometimes, the answer is right in front of us in a
simple, heimish idea or object - like a little black
plug.
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