Cleaning out a p-trap/ one more reason to buy pliers

The most intimidating part about taking off a “P-trap” or the curvy pipe beneath the kitchen or bathroom sink is the thought of the water, spit, hair and dirt trapped inside.

“There will be a build up of sludge,” warns Ron Dotzko, an instructor of plumbing apprenticeship at the Humber School of Applied Technology. “Think of what we do with a basin in the bathroom.

“We brush our teeth. We wash our hands. There is a build up of soap sludge, possibly bacteria gets stuck inside there."

I spent part of a morning with Dotzko at a Humber training facility at 110 Carrier Dr., learning how to take apart a P-trap, on the off chance I drop something down the drain.

Watch the video here

The trap is designed to hold a quantity of water which prevents sewer gas from coming through your pipes into your home. (So brace yourself for a whiff of gas, or the smell of whatever is sitting in the water.) It’s also a catch basin for dropped earrings, hair and grit.

Learning a few simple plumbing skills and the proper tools required to do the job right is on my list of things to learn during the year I spend working at becoming more self reliant.

We work on a metal trap, the kind commonly found beneath bathroom sinks. In kitchens it is common to find plastic traps, with a screw like valve (like a plug) at the bottom that can be removed with a set of pliers to drain it as needed.

Dotzko, who has found everything from syringes to condoms in sink traps, strongly recommends wearing gloves and something to protect your eyes. He also suggests using a pen or hard object to poke around if needed, not your fingers.

We begin by placing a bucket (or use a towel) beneath the pipe to catch the small amount of possibly foul, grungy water waiting to drop out.

Then, with one hand supporting the curvy part of the pipe we use a pair of channel lock pliers, another option is something called plumber’s pliers, to loosen the back and front nuts. When you loosen that first nut, a bit of water will spurt out. But unless the taps are on, there won’t be a gushing flow. 

We manually unscrew the nuts the rest of the way and the u-shape loop of pipe basically drops out with very little pulling. Taking it off and putting it on takes about two minutes. Of course, we are water and sludge free and not factoring the time to clean it out. 

Dotzko, 48, has been with Humber for about five years, teaching plumbing for 15 and working in the field for 25. He studied English and History at University of Toronto, with the intent of becoming a teacher and ended up doing office work. After a few years he realized it was not for him and headed to George Brown College to learn the trade.

One of his larger projects as an industrial plumber was the drainage system at the Rogers Centre, installing 20- to 24-inch pipes.

When school is out, Dotzko goes back to construction jobs.

Clearing P-traps is one of the simplest skills taught to entry-level plumbing students. The more advanced courses cover septic systems (the gas can cause unconsciousness, leading to fatal accidents) and boilers (dealing with massive pressure and scalding heat).

I have a close friend (Bob) who works as an industrial plumber for a living. It is intensley physical work that requires a level head and a great deal of skill. For a visual of one of his more difficult days, imagine yourself 100 feet in the air, then add dirt, oil, scalding steam and fire. Not to mention thousands of pounds of steel being hoisted in every direction.

About 400 to 600 students enroll in a variety of eight-week plumbing programs at Humber College every year, taking basic, intermediate or advanced courses. Skill requirements depend on the course taken, but all students must be in an apprenticeship program, hired by a contractor and registered with the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, says Dotzko.

I am a long way from installing a sink, but if you drop your wedding ring down the drain I can handle it. Actually, based on how long this one took, so can you.

One more reason to start shopping for tools, still not sure if it is better to buy a box or build up one at a time. Anyone?

 

Vacation and cold water safety training

I'm taking a small vacation, or at least staying out of the office for a few weeks, so the blog is being put on a bit of a hold until the beginning of February. There will be a video and long post next Monday, January 24, but not much else.

Not that I am entirely abandoning my goals during this brief period.

Outside of maintaining a strict schedule of napping, reading, some exercise and pairing elaborate meals with beer, I will learn to use a welding torch and (if all goes well) get some cold water safety training from the Toronto Police Marine Unit.

I will also, hopefully, finally use my collection of sticks and carved bits of wood to make fire.

Hope you and everyone you love stays healthy and entertained for the next two weeks. But, if you need something to kill a few minutes at work you could check out the dizzying array of emergency preparedness products offered by this Canadian company. (Thanks Frank!)

Can you put a price on survival?

We're betting that White County emergency services in Tennessee were not too pleased to factor this rescue mission into their 2011 budget.

Last weekend two twentysomething men decided to test their survival skills during an overnight expedition in the Virgin Falls State Natural Area.

Greg England of the local Expositor newspaper, said the pair had “received cold-weather survival training in Canada” and wanted to test out the skills in sub-zero weather.

One of the young men, England reported, had “informed his family of the attempt, causing them to know not to expect to hear from him that soon.”

After 24 hours with no contact, however, the family member was not content to wait, and called White County emergency services.

"Members of Sparta-White County Rescue Squad, as well as members from all volunteer fire departments and Sparta FD, White County Emergency Medical Services, White County Sheriff Department, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and White County Emergency Management Service began the trip to the natural area on Bon Air Mountain to search for the men in the sub-freezing temperatures," reported England.

“As the search continued into the dark of night, more four-wheelers and emergency personnel joined in the hunt, while members of Community Volunteer Emergency Service Team (CVEST) assisted in bringing food, warm drinks and other needs to the searchers."

Helicopters were also deployed. It was estimated that more than 20 searchers were involved.

The kicker? Once located - about five hours later- the young men refused to abandon their survival excursion.

The pair had to be convinced – no doubt by some tired and cold volunteers – to come back home.

How to save a choking baby

 
Emily waits for instructions on how to prevent her plastic baby from turning blue.

The idea of a choking baby, or any little person in distress, scares me to death.

In December I took a two-day first aid course with St. John Ambulance, hopefully one of many skill-building exercises I will take related to health during the year.

We covered everything from broken bones and burns to adult and infant Cardiopulmonary resuscitation,  or CPR.

To kick this one off, I am sharing a version of the story that ran in the paper. This happened five years ago. It is still burned into my brain.

The 10-month baby I was watching (my sister’s first baby, no pressure) woke up in the middle of the night crying.

The crying turned to screaming and then she started throwing up, gagging and heaving the way children do when they are alternating between screaming and trying to catch a full breath.

I was convinced she was seconds away from choking on her own vomit.

With the phone clutched in my right hand, I held my niece Josie over my shoulder and over the sink so the vomit would fall down and out of her mouth.

I knew that if her heaving cries stopped suddenly, we were in trouble.

Happily, Josie kept breathing and I didn’t have to call 911. I did reach her parents on the phone. Only after they came home was I told Josie throws up, or does her exorcist impression, when she's upset.

Turns out a good portion of it slid down my back, but at the time I hardly noticed.

So a desire to learn how to care for sick babies - not to mention seriously injured adults until help arrives - was how I ended up in the classroom of Nicole Bailey.

 

(Please note, there is a set series of simple but essential steps to infant CPR. This video has a decent outline but is no replacement for a course.)

Bailey, 41, has been a teacher with St. John Ambulance since breaking both her wrists in a bike accident three years ago. The accident prompted her to leave a “deadend” job in a grocery store.

Choking babies (babies who have stopped breathing) have about two minutes before brain damage sets in, explains  Bailey.

That is why you need to be prepared to administer CPR, which means chest compressions. With babies you use two fingers. For our lesson we used a blue and silver plastic baby that could pass for the love child of a life jacket and Tron.

“Their (ribs are) actually more pliable (than adults') . . . because they are so young they are not as brittle,” says Bailey. But she adds, “we are likely to do more soft-tissue damage, so you still might see some bruising.”

Bailey says the most common thing babies choke on is food. Choking babies can’t scream, but they will be thrashing and turning red, blue or grey, she says.

She has never had to perform CPR on an unconscious baby, but has had to dislodge food from an infant’s mouth.

“It was terrifying,” she says.

The vomit was terrifying enough. It is a huge relief to know how to perform CPR on an baby, but I hope I never have to put it to the test.

Love kids, but don't have any. Thinking large breed dogs. Still searching. Might be my limit.

Making a case for (some) television

The Daily Mail is reporting that 14-year-old Jake Denham survived an overnight 10-hour stint on a mountain thanks to tips he learned from watching survival shows on TV.

You might want to take this one with a grain of salt, but if this story is true it makes a fairly compelling point for the value of watching survival shows.

Denham is a fan of Man vs. Wild, hosted by British survivalist Bear Grylls and once Denham was stranded (because of what he learned) dug a small cave or shelter in the snow to retain body heat during the night. Grylls's background is a bit mind-blowing: he is a former British Special Air Service soldier and was the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest.

The teen’s ordeal started during a skiing trip on Mt. Bachelor in Oregon with his family. He lost one of his skis and decided to walk down the mountain, rather than try to catch up with his parents. Night fell, the temperature dropped to – 17 C.

“It started getting dark, and I saw the stars. I saw Venus — it was red and bigger than the North Star,” Denham told the Daily Mail.

“I dug a canal, and it went up a hill, so the wind would blow over it so the wind wouldn't hit me,” he said.

He also followed Grylls’s tip of following ski tracks down the mountain.

“I wanted to live my life and not go die,” he said. “So I got up, and I found some ski tracks, and I followed those."

72 hours, hand crank flashlights, duct tape and elk pepperettes

 

As I compose this post I am finishing off the final bites of a key component of my emergency food supply: in this case, the last of a four-pack of spicy elk pepperettes.

The Government of Canada recommends you have at least enough food, water and medical supplies to sit tight for at least 72 hours, in case of an emergency.

If your power was out and the convenience store was shut down would you have enough food or water to last you a few days? What about a whistle, medical kit or deck of cards?