WATER THAT SINK TRAP

This is something you might not have read anywhere else.

If you have a sink in your house that is not used very often, you need to pour water down the drain from time to time to fill the trap under the sink.  (The trap is that curved piece of pipe under the sink.  Because it is curved, it traps a bit of water in the pipe.)

It is important to keep the trap filled with water.  Why?  The water acts as a plug to keep sewer gases from coming up from the sewer pipes into your house.  The water in the trap will evaporate over time, thus you need to replenish it regularly.  You’ll know if you’re overdue for a refill if you notice an odor.  Oh, by the way, this also applies to other fixtures in your house such as toilets, showers, or tubs that typically have traps under them.  (Some traps may be under the flooring where you can’t see them.)

My house is average-sized, but nevertheless, there are a couple of sinks that get very little use.

Strange that I have to perform this ritual of watering the traps.  But nice, too.  In a way it’s comforting to do these little tasks.  Not much of a bother really.  I do it right before I make up a new pitcher of my special lemon-orange drink (two squeezed lemons, three cups of orange juice, three or four cups of water).  That way, it always gets done.

Bringing order out of chaos (draw it)

Full-size image

Little chores are much better than having to deal with disasters and emergencies, and the inevitable next problem coming down the line.  The 34,000 dead in the China earthquake can no longer water their traps (Sichuan province, May 12, 2008).  The 100,000 dead in the Burma cyclone are beyond such cares (Cyclone Nargis, May 3, 2008).  Many of the almost 250,000 Chinese injured in the earthquake and their neighbors are stressed beyond belief.  And I wrote that before today’s headline:  “A powerful aftershock destroyed tens of thousands of homes in central China, causing hundreds of new casualties Sunday and straining recovery efforts from the country's worst earthquake in three decades.”

Yes, I had a stress filled two weeks, but I’ll guess not as bad as someone else’s.  So I’ll get back to my routine tasks, like watering the sink traps.  It’s soothing. 

Writing my little post is soothing.

Slide show and music on my main page.

-2008-

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