This is Page Three of Plumbing Advice and Tips from Stanley Searles, your Mill Valley Plumber

You Dropped Your Ring Down the Sink Drain

RING or EARRING dropped down the sink? IMMEDIATELY turn your faucet off, and allow no more water down the drain

from ANY source.

Assuming your water was not running when the jewelry was dropped, it will have landed in the bottom of the u-shaped pipe under the sink, or even above it. If it's a bathroom wash basin, stand over the sink and look down because you might be able to see your jewelry.

If you can see your jewelry, retrieve it with long tongs.

If you can't see your jewelry, remove the "U", (known in the plumbing world as the J-bend). Put a pan below the J-bend and loosen the two large nuts at either end. Adjustable pliers work very well for this task. Keep turning the nuts, and the whole curved piece of pipe will come off and drop down. Be sure to keep track of the washers because you will need to put them back when you reinstall the "J".

If you break the pipe, don't worry, because it means it was ready to break anyway and you are lucky to catch it now. Wear gloves to protect your hands from sharp edges, and do whatever you need to do to remove the broken pieces of pipe and retrieve your lost jewelry or other object. Then call me to repair the pipe.

Phone Stanley Searles in Mill Valley (415) 388-8260