what is the plaster like gunk that clogs my drainpipe?

clipped

Undissolved detergent? Put some of the crud into a bottle of distilled water, shake it and see what happens.

Are you on septic or sewer? If sewer, could something be backing up?

Interesting suggestion. If only it were that! Septic. I tried boiling water and vinegar. Will let it sit awhile

Why would you put grease down the sink drain, on a septic system.

If so, build an independent grease trap.

Plates are greasy after dinner dude. We don't pour naked or even clothed grease down the sink. We even wipe greasier things with paper towels before washing.

Well it seems that the stuff is organic as it goes right into organic solvent (ethyl acetate, CHCl3) and not water, or even soapy water??. The NMR shows an oil-like pattern (vegetable?). Very little unsaturation. So all I have to do in the future is pour massive amounts of organic solvents down my kitchen sink. What could possibly go wrong....hahahahahahahaha....... smileyface here. (won't matter just you wait....;-))).........)

Has someone been pouring solvents down the drain (caused the glue to fail)?

NMR? CHC13?

I love mysteries, but have trouble with your chemistry.......two things come to mind: pigment settled out of paint, and pvc pipe dissolving. Someone in the household works with dust/powders and the stuff comes out in the laundry? I have no idea if/how/why pvc would dissintegrate....just a thought :o)

The closest I could come to solvents down the drain would be boiling water/vingar to try to clear the clog. Some connections apparently didn't like that. The other source of stress would be the snake (blade) I pound thru the pipe to clear the clog.

NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is a chemist's tool that we use to see hydrogen atoms. The Medical profession adopted this tech and renamed it MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) dropping the "nuclear" as it scared people. It doesn't refer to harmful 'radiation', but it does have to do with the nucleus of an atom. We spin a small sample of compund in a magnetic field. MD's spin the magnetic field around the sample (you). CHCl3, actually, CDCl3 (D-chloroform) is a common solvent used to dissolve sample for this procedure.

We are running a household with 2 daughters, one off to college, and we aren't home all day. Maybe someone is using our house as a drug factory during the day....? Wait! That might explain the $1000 in cash we find once a month on the kitchen table...hmmm.... When I first moved in there 23 yrs ago, my neighbor helped me clear that clog. He said that stuff is what happens to grease in the dark. He may be right. It only happens in the pipe from the kitchen sink, so trace food waste and bits of fat/oil must be the culprits. PVC wouldn't dissolve in solvents I used (in the lab) and would have a distinct pattern in an NMR spectra. We try not to put any amt of oil/ grease down the drain. There are dirty plates in the dishwasher, but you would expect the soap to keep the grease from gunking out. That is what soap does. I guess the slope of that pipe allows water to sit over long periods. I expect now that I've actually cleared the clog at the source, it won't form again as quickly. I mean that stuff was stuck to the top of the pipe as well and took a crow bar to break through. Cheers, and thanks for your interest.

What do you use for dishwasher detergent? The white color of the clog is unusual for any grease or typical kitchen effluent.

R

on 3/28/2008 7:32 PM finding z0 said the following:

Are you using granular dishwasher soap? That's what clogged my 4" septic tank pipe a couple of years ago. We switched to liquid soap after that.

roxisam had written this in response to

: We are having the exact issue. Did you ever find out what it was and how to solve or disolve it?

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Well it's been awhile and it is clogged again. Maybe 4 yrs or more.

Lime deposits .

Oh heck, I thought I saw "lame" deposits. I had to adjust my eyeglasses. o_O

TDD

Probably hardened grease/lime mixture.

Perhaps drain cooties? ^_^

TDD

replying to finding z0, Rob Amey wrote: Do you have AC or a humidifier that drains the excess water from these items into your drain pipes.? That could be your problem

replying to Rob Amey, findingzzero wrote: Nothing goes into that part of the drain pipe but the kitchen sink/ dishwsher. I solved the problem by having a professional drain cleaner snake out the pipe once ever 4 yrs..

replying to findingzzero, Rick wrote: I just read an article about this... it sounds like what they are calling "FOG", Fat, Oil, & Grease', however if i read it correctly, it is a misnomer... It's basically a type of soap that doesn't dissolve in water, but rather, Fats, oils, & grease mix with calcium from hard water, (or maybe old milk poured down the drain). The fat/oil/grease mix w/ the calcium and I guess kinda turn into a dense foam that sticks to the pipes. The article did not say how to get rid of it, and they are still unsure why so much of it forms in city sewers when all food establishments are required to have grease traps...

replying to Rick, Nat wrote: I have the same white plaster look junk clogging my drain pipe coming from my kitchen. I've built my house about twenty five years ago and over the past three or four years I have to ram pipe snakes up my pipes to get the white plaster like stuff out. I have a problem in that my laundry room pipes connect the to pipe from the kitchen and then go about 25 feet with a very small slope. I have had to cut the pipe in three different places to be able to run the snake in it. And lately I'm having to do it about once a month. I am on a well and a septic tank and my water is a little hard, lime deposits form on the sink and shower nozzles. Has anybody figured out what will dissolve this gunk?