Big Candle Melts Into Kitchen Sink, Help!

[momanto]

I Had A Huge Candle Sitting On A Paper Plate In One Side Of My Stainless Steel Double-sink. I Was Burning It Down To Where I Could Use It For Light Again. I Was Around The Corner At The Computer When I Heard A Gurgle. The Candle Had Covered The Paper Plate W/waX And Some Went On down The Drain. No Problem For Several Days, Didnt Think I Had One. Now The Sink On Both Sides Is Stopped Up. As I Dig With A Coat Hanger Bits Of Wax Come Up.

Would It Be Safe To Use A Propane Torch To Heat The Metal Pipe Section Under Neath, Or Would That Just Move The Wax On To Get Stuck Later On Before It Gets To The Final Septic Area.

Is There Any Remedy Besides Taking The Pipes Physically Apart Under The Sink?

Thanks,

Mom

[bare]

That's a good one there!!

Sounds like your wax has settled in your P trap and no, I wouldn't use a torch to send it on it's way, the metal is way too thin to use a torch on. The only solution I can see is to take it apart and scrape it out.

[canfossi]

Yes it sounds like you'll have to take the pipe apart and scrape it, unfortunately. Good luck! Chris

[TexasArtist]

besides the scraping part I'd say put some foil on a cookie sheet and then turn the oven on low and set you pipe in there to help melt the wax out. As long as it's metal though. Doing that with plastic pipe might give you a whole nother shape all together.

[cchapman84]

If you know exactly where the pipe is clogged (like the trap), try taking boiling water and setting it directly under the pipe (as close as you can get), preferably with the pipe actually submerged. As soon as the pipe clears, run water as hot as you can get it through the pipe for as long as you can (this will help get all of the wax all the way through your pipes before it hardens again). This might help to clean it out. You could also try using Drano or similar (these products heat up to basically burn things out of your pipe, so I would think they would work just fine). Might be worth a try before you go pulling pipes apart.

[dlangland]

Wow, that is interesting, Momo. I thought I was the only one with candle problems...A couple wks. ago I had this thing with 3 large candles in it on my kitchen counter. When I went to blow them out, one of the newest ones sprayed and splashed wax all over my freshly painted wall...Don't ask. I am so very embarrassed when anyone comes over. I am still just meditating on what to even do about it. The only thing I could think of other then scraping it, and repainting, was to take my iron and try to melt it off..I don't know. I have never done like that before in my entire lifetime.

That was my first thought as a woman, unless you have PVC down below, maybe you could use a blow torch to melt yours...I don't know...Sounds dangerous. Deb

[momanto]

Thanks....i Just Got Back From Town And Bought Some Drano, But W/water In The Sink Dont Know If It Will Work...it Is Working A Little, Have Cleaned All The Junk Out From Under The Sink- 3 Boxes Of It, So May Have To Put A Pan Under There And Have Someone Take It Apart. The Pipe Underneath Only Has One Part That Is Metal, The Rest Is Pvc. Feel Like The Clog Is On Pvc. Whoa, This All Happened When The Kitchen Was Spotless.....now.....messsssyyyy..

Thanks For Your Advice.

This Is A Good Warning To Me As During Electric Outages During Hurricanes I Prefer Candles. I Dont Trust Batteries To Be Fresh When You Need Them. Love Candles. Think I Will Not Even Save One Spec Of This One, It Has Too Low Of A Melting Point.

[BCR]

Well, consider this a lesson learned! Sorry you are having this problem.

You may not be able to adequately scrape out the wax, but yes, you need to take the pipes apart or you are in for continual plumbing problems. Might even replace the P-trap (they aren't real costly).

Just a safety note:

NEVER burn a candle unattended.

If you insist on doing it anyway, place it in a non-flammable vessel (bowl, pot, jar) that can hold and contain the entire melted wax if forgotten.

You are lucky the house didn't go up in flames with a paper plate (!!!) under it and hot wax that might have caught fire itself.

[texican]

Simple Problem.

Remove old trap. Replace with new one. Hand tighten. New ones less than ten bucks. Probably less than five!

The trap has a simple to remove wing nut. Just remember how it came off, and put the new one on the same way...

[dcross]

Drain cleaner should eat candle wax. I think.

[susieM]

Boiling water? Hair dryer on pipe?

[dseng]

I agree with Texican - replace the trap - cheap and effective!

[Columbia,SC.]

I agree with ' texican ' a new P- trap is simple and cheap...$3.00 for the bathroom and a couple more in the kitchen. The kitchen is probably, most likely 1 1/2". It would be best to just suck it up and buy a new one, and you should end up with 'spare parts'.

[texican]

Well, let me clarify my original post...

If I liked you, I'd say just replace the trap. I'd do it for less than 20 bucks, if you bought the parts... or we could do some swapping, or bartering, and keep evil ol cash out of the equation (my preferred transaction)

Now if I had a 'boat payment' due, and didn't like you, I'd recommend a chemical or mechanical heat treatment, which would move the wax further down your system, and possible get it lodged in your walls, or near your septic tank... and pretty quickly things would get lodged on the wax obstruction, and everything would be stopped up... I could remove your walls, or spend a day digging up your pipes to the septic tank... the bill could be in the hundreds of dollars... or possibly over '4 figures'!!!! And whats sad, I would be doing it for half of what someone else would...