I just wanted to clean the P trap to get the drain work better; but when I wrenched it, the tail pipe (the one attaching the sink's pop-up to the P trap) broke off. At first I didn't realize it had actually broken off - because of the glue I saw smeared over that joint. I thought it had just got unglued. But it didn't make sense. I went to the hardware store (OSH) and the guy there categorically said that all such tailpipes for ceramic sinks are threaded. So I picked up one (1.25") and headed home. On closer examination, it became clear that the thread of the old pipe was indeed broken and had got stuck inside the pop-up. I tried in vain to remove the pop-up in toto, so I could work on removing the broken thread in comfort, but it was tricky and I didn't have the right wrench. I left the job sit there for a whole week.
Meanwhile, I chanced to see on some forum someone ask about exactly the same thing, and the tip was to use a chisel to peel off the thread. Yesterday I went to OSH again and got a carbon-steel 1/4" chisel and a new adjustable wrench. At first the chisel seemed hopeless. But after a few minuted of random poking, all of a sudden a big chunk of the thread peeled off. Encouraged by that, I kept at it and another big piece came loose too , and before I realized it, I was done with that part of the job!
Now, I had to saw off the new extension pipe to fit my under sink space. After a desperate search in the garage, I found a spare hack-saw blade, and once again was surprised how relatively easy it was to saw off a copper pipe. Putting it all back together wasn't that hard - except for the lever that controls the drain stopper. But then, the dreaded leak hit! At two places. One was easy - just had to tighten the P trap a bit more. The other was tricky - again at the stopped lever. After a few minutes of half-hearted attempts to fix it, I gave up. There was really no stopper in that sink anyway and we weren't missing it - so why bother? So I just put an extra washer to stop the leak, some extra teflon tape, and closed the whole thing up.
No leaks so far after a few hours. And, by the way, the drain flows much better now too!
Meanwhile, I chanced to see on some forum someone ask about exactly the same thing, and the tip was to use a chisel to peel off the thread. Yesterday I went to OSH again and got a carbon-steel 1/4" chisel and a new adjustable wrench. At first the chisel seemed hopeless. But after a few minuted of random poking, all of a sudden a big chunk of the thread peeled off. Encouraged by that, I kept at it and another big piece came loose too , and before I realized it, I was done with that part of the job!
Now, I had to saw off the new extension pipe to fit my under sink space. After a desperate search in the garage, I found a spare hack-saw blade, and once again was surprised how relatively easy it was to saw off a copper pipe. Putting it all back together wasn't that hard - except for the lever that controls the drain stopper. But then, the dreaded leak hit! At two places. One was easy - just had to tighten the P trap a bit more. The other was tricky - again at the stopped lever. After a few minutes of half-hearted attempts to fix it, I gave up. There was really no stopper in that sink anyway and we weren't missing it - so why bother? So I just put an extra washer to stop the leak, some extra teflon tape, and closed the whole thing up.
No leaks so far after a few hours. And, by the way, the drain flows much better now too!
