[Closed] Urgent Help required - Engagement ring down sink conundrum

There should be a trap somewhere!! It might be a slimline trap? They are very compact and hardly any wider than the pipe itself. I would find it very unusual for it to be under the floor..??

There could be an inline bellows type trap.

I would say to her not use any water anywhere else in the house at the moment. If it has gone down the waste pipes you don't want anything helping it to be flushed through to the sewers. In fact if she's brave enough she could open up the inspection pit outside (if there is one) and block it up with some rags [i]just in case[/i] it makes it down that far.

divorce

Get under the sink- you can unscrew the white u-bend.

DONT USE ANY OF THE TOILETS OR TAPS UPSTAIRS OR ANYWHERE IN THE HOUSE.

Why? If its gone further down and is in the grate/drain just outside the kitchen window any water flushing etc may send it down the sewer. Good luck.

Thanks Hora...but it's not the kitchen sink (see OP), and there is no U bend (see OP).

Have already requested no water use.

Ring is platinum so magnets are going to work either are they.

I've requested a photo to be sent through.

[i] you can unscrew the white u-bend[/i]

I think he said there's no U-bend.

Magnetic? Is it a steel ring?

Home contents insurance?

If it was bodged in then the pipe/water from the sink might just go out and connect to an external drain pipe. That may drain to an outside ground level drain with a cover, worth a look?

Only thing I thought of would be a Magnetic telescope thing. But I don't think these will be long enough or be able to bend around the joint at the floorboard.

Don't confess to the engagement ring being magnetic 🙂

EDIT: beaten to it

If it was bodged in then the pipe/water from the sink might just go out and connect to an external drain pipe. That may drain to an outside ground level drain with a cover, worth a look?

Good call. Ours do that (but they also have traps).

Put something over the drain incase it washes out.

Magnetic? Is it a steel ring?

Clutching at ideas from my desk at work 🙂

Our bathroom sink doesn't have a u-trap.
It has an in-line one like this, which you might not guess is a trap...[img] &w=290&h=290[/img]

Presumably there must be a trap somewhere, or you'd get the smells?

Right, here's the pic of the waste:

[img] [/img]

What's the white thing?

If the white thing isn't a trap, then I think we're straight through and will be hunting under floor boards and this is the next section down:

[img] [/img]

The pipe goes under the floorboards? the bend could be there.

Has she gone outside to the drains? Rubber glove fish around?

Looks like an in-line trap to me:

[img] [/img]

Plumber?

Yeah, looks like an line trap:

How do they work....this pictures seems to show it open when in use and essentially just straight through...where would it be trapped?

[img] [/img]

What a weird trap!

IIRC those Hep2O traps have a diaphragm just for stopping smells coming up. Edit: Think whooppie cushion.

It should have stopped the ring, if there's not been much wather through it afterwards.

In other news, you now have one of these...

[img] [/img]

Always good to have one in hand 😉

I'd say it's made it through the trap as water was running.

Here's a picture of the plug hole...looks a long way down:

[img] [/img]

I'd say it's made it through the trap as water was running.

Worth having the trap out anyway. Fingers crossed.

Is the waste pipe connected to the soil pipe, or does it go to a grid outside? There should be a p-trap below an outside grid, you may be able to get your hand down there.

It's not really a trap as such and works via a bellows. The force of the water unseats the bellows, which reseats when there is no force on it. Tell them to take it out VERY carefully.

Have told her to unscrew the waste but she's feeding the 8 week old baby at the moment.

Update to follow later...thanks all.

those traps have a plastic bag in them. They do not "trap" anything that falls in, only they close to stop smells come up.

The ring has almost certainly passed through it and is through the branch connection and on it's way down a big pipe. Sorry.

Is the waste pipe connected to the soil pipe, or does it go to a grid outside? There should be a p-trap below an outside grid, you may be able to get your hand down there.

You've lost me here.

The grey pipe disappears under the floor of an upstairs bathroom and then I have no idea where it goes or what it's connected to.

Also, she's admitted to flushing the toilet (in the same room) post ring loss, so if it's not in the trap and made it from the bathroom I think it's lost.

Might still be hung up in the pipes in the house.

I'd perhaps be trying to think of a way of catching it at the inspection chamber and then flushing everything through.

It's a long shot though.

Worth lifting manhole covers anyway. If you live somewhere flatish then there won't be much fall on the underground pipe and it may have caught up on "something". Good luck.

Insurance claim time.

She flushed the toilet post-drop?

Oh. 🙁

Have to agree, I think we're looking at plumber and then insurance. Just scanning our policy booklet now.

What I was trying to say is...

If the waste from the sink tees into the soil pipe from the toilet, it will flush straight to sewer without a trap (because the u-bend on the toilet is the trap, and you have tee'd in downstream of this).

However, if the waste from the sink does not tee into the toilet waste, but runs to the rain water grids outside, there will be a trap under the grid (the ring may have even been caught up on the grating on the outside grid. Worth a check if any non-guttering pipes go to the outside grids).

Confucius say, 'Better engagement ring down sink, than marriage vows down drain' 😉

Get a kiddy fishing net, lift the nearest inspection cover, and fire a few buckets through the system. It's your last hope, I would say.

This may help...

if it's piped like this...
[img] [/img]

then it's either in the strange in-line trap, catchable in the inspection manway, or long gone.

If you have this...
[img] [/img]

then it may be in the trap under here...

[img] [/img]

If the latter, make sure you check before we get lots of rain.

[i]Confucius say, 'Better engagement ring down sink, than marriage vows down drain[/i]

Excellent! Proper 😆

Thanks Orman.

Neighbour has found the inspection manway and ran the bath to confirm it the correct one. No ring seen, so unless it's in the inline or hasn't made it to the junction with the bath waste then it's probably gone.

He can't get the inline trap out as the front part of the sink won't move out of the way for access.

Wife says she can only see two small diameter pipes on the outside of the house (which I'm guessing are the toilet overflows)...no other pipes seen so who knows where the toilet and other waste goes.

MILs usual plumber can't come out till the morning...so insurance doc's tonight.

How about a drain specialist with cctv?

Sorry mate - laughing at his joke, not your predicament. Hope insurance sorts you.

[img] [/img]

How about a drain specialist with cctv?

Weren't interested when we've phoned. Just said you'll need to get a plumber out.