Clank, clank, clank! Your heart sinks as you hear your wedding ring fall down the drain. Before you count your ring as a lost cause, check out these tips from HEB Plumbing & Drain – Kathlyn Smith to safely retrieve your lost jewelry.
Magnet
If the jewelry you dropped down the drain is made of metal, a simple magnet might do the trick. Glue or tie a magnet to a string or a shoelace. Then, carefully lower the magnet into the drain. (Note: cut the power to garbage disposal, if applicable).
Slowly pull the magnet back up the drain. Doing it quickly and carelessly could cause the magnet to lose its grip on the jewelry, sending it back down the drain.
Use a Coat Hanger or Four-Pronged Tool
Invest in a four-pronged tool from your nearest home goods store or use a metal coat hanger.
Four-Pronged Tool is a long snake that has hooks at the end. This makes grabbing jewelry, such as necklaces, bracelets and rings a breeze. Simply slide the snake through the drain and see if you can catch the jewelry and bring it up. Just like with the magnet, make sure you bring it up slowly, as to not damage or dislodge the jewelry. If you cannot seem to locate your piece, use a flashlight to see where it fell.
A metal coat hanger can easily be unwound to make a long snake-like tool that can easily fit into your drain. Make sure you have a nice hook at the end and feed it down your drain. While your coat hanger may not have the same reach and flexibility that a four-pronged tool has, it should still be able to grab larger pieces of jewelry, such as a necklace.
Take Apart The P-Trap
If the above tactics weren’t successful, or if a smaller piece of jewelry fell (e.g., an earring), you may need to dismantle your sink. This step can be a bit messy, so wear appropriate clothing. Here are the steps you should take:
- Turn off the water
- Clean underneath your sink pipes
- Place a bucket or bowl underneath the p-trap. (The p-trap is the curved looking pipe underneath your sink.)
- Loosen the slip nuts connecting the overflow/curved part of the p-trap.
- Remove and dump the overflow pipe into the bucket.
Your jewelry should have fallen into the bucket. Consider giving it a good cleaning with jewelry-safe chemicals before wearing it again.
Finally, clean the overflow pipe and connect it to the rest of the p-trap, screwing the nuts back into place. Finally, turn the water back on.
When it comes to drains, no one knows them better than HEB Plumbing & Sprinkler – Kathlyn Smith. Contact our specialists today if you are still having trouble getting your jewelry out of the drain or for all of your plumbing and sprinkler needs.