HOW TO UNBLOCK THE WASTE TANK DRAIN (formerly waste tank leaking slightly)

[ejmoore]

Great! Glad it worked.

 

[nomadicjonboy77]

@ejmoore thanks so much for this. I was experiencing the same issue and puzzled as to why the tank would be blocked as the only thing I use the sink for is cleaning my teeth and draining pasta water but somehow after 3 years from new it happened.

I tried the drain cleaning cable but like others discovered it was probably going into the overflow pipe rather than into the main drainage tank hole.

As per your instructions I loosened the metal tie on the overflow pipe coming from above (using a screwdriver) and sealed the hole with a plastic bag and some electrical tape.

I then opened the valve, went outside and used a length of hose attached to a USB pump (one I use to blow up my air mattress) to push air back up the drainage pipe outside. Immediately I could hear gurgling inside (I had the window open so I could keep an eye on what was happening inside). When I pulled the pump away the water came flooding out.

Weirdly there was no evidence of any hard matter that might have caused the blockage in the water that came out, so I am still a bit puzzled by that. But nevertheless I am very happy that the problem is fixed.

I then securely reaffixed the overflow pipe with the metal tie, closed the valve and ran water from a hose into the sink/tank and filled until water ran out of the overflow. Then opened the valve and flushed the water out. Repeated once.

Obviously if you try this method, you need to be careful that water does not come into your pump - a see-through bit of hose/piping would help with this.

Good luck to anyone else that has the issue.

 

[ejmoore]

Fantastic - glad you were able to sort it out. The workings of it were more complicated than I expected, so worth setting it all out.