July 10, 2021
Dear Ken: We can’t get our bathroom lavatories to stop smelling awful. We’ve tried Liquid Plumber, baking soda and vinegar, even bleach. Can you help on this?—Roger
Did you remember the overflow? That’s the little hole in the front of the sink that drains water away if you forget to turn off the faucet. Sometimes they get full of gunk from the drain itself. Use an old turkey baster to squirt a mixture of ½ Clorox, ½ warm water down there to flush out and disinfect the channel.
Also, it helps to clean out the pipes down under the sink. Unscrew the trap and let it drop into a bucket, then use a plumber’s snake or even a bent coat hanger to scrape out the horizontal pipe that goes into the wall.
Finally, the pop-ups. They collect all kinds of disgusting gunk over the years. If you can’t remove yours, here’s the remedy. Unscrew the little lifter arm under the sink, pull the rod out part way so you can lift the stopper out of the hole. Soak it in in a bucket with some strong detergent for a while. At the bottom is a little scored mark, indicating where you can break off the plastic tab around the lifter hole with pliers so it no longer captures the rod. Put everything back together, and you’ll have an arrangement whereby you can lift it out for cleaning whenever you want.
Dear Ken: I have a 1973 house with gable vents. Would you recommend adding some of those square roof vents up high?—Dan
The gable vents you have are pretty efficient, as they let cross breezes in. Make sure you cover the most north-facing one in the winter to keep snow out. Those square, high vents are OK, but they come with a built-in snow screen on their undersides, so they really don’t handle much air (that’s why new homes, which rely mostly on that type, get so hot in the summer). Because of the convection tendency of warm air—it rises from low to high—I would, instead, add a couple of those rotating turbine vents up high on the rear side of the roof. They create a negative pressure when they rotate, so they expel lots of hot air. They, too, can be covered in the winter with a garbage bag and bungee cord.
Dear Ken: I have a glass top stove, and I have a hard time keeping it clean by using only that liquid that came with the stove. Anything else I can do?—Laura
I’m not sure what brand you’re using, but I’ve grown to appreciate the Weiman brand Stove Top Cleaner. Anyway, it’s important to wipe up and remove spills before you cook the again—especially anything containing sugar. If you’ve created some tough spots, then use a new single edge razor blade inside a dispensing handle to gently remove excess spillage. Don’t use it dry, though; that same liquid can help lubricate the blade’s action. Let it sit for 10 minutes before you start to scrape.
Dear Ken: Do you remember a warning when we were kids not to drink hot water from the tap? How come? I like a cup of tea now and then, and it’s so convenient to just turn on the faucet.—Sam
Some of those old proscriptions, we now find, make lots of sense. Hot water dissolves contaminants more readily than cold. That can mean lead contamination or extra iron (which can be toxic to little kids) can make its way into that hot drink. Lead pipe solder was still with us into the 1980’s; it has since been replaced with copper or antinomy. So, if your house is younger than that, or if you have the newer plastic water pipes, there should be no problem.
If you like, you could check with the county health department to see if they can help you arrange a water test. Otherwise, my tea-drinking friends really rave about those instant electric hot water boxes you install under the kitchen sink (my apologies to my UK readers who would never drink tea that didn’t come out of a kettle).
Dear Ken: I have a carafe and tumbler set that is very cloudy from our water up here in the mountains. How can I clean them up?—Brad
Try Bar Keeper’s Friend—an oxalic based cleanser that folks swear by for these tough, hard water stains. Sprinkle some inside each piece, then use a very wet sponge and some gentle pressure to release the stains.
Nancy has a similar question. Is there any easy way to remove the price tags stuck to stuff you buy?
If simply soaking the bottoms in a little warm tap water doesn’t work, then try some Goo Gone for this (don’t confuse it with its similarly-named cousin, Goof Off solvent). It is great for sticky things, like crayon, lipstick and glue residues. If you’re using it on plastic or other non-glass products, try a test spot first to check for compatibility.
Dear Ken: That little drain at the bottom of my water heater drips. Can it be fixed? Or do I need a new tank?—Terry
This is an easy one. Rather than try to replace it or otherwise mess with it, you could screw on a cap. You can find brass versions in the hardware store that have those coarse hose threads inside. Wrap a little Teflon tape around the drain and then screw the cap on fairly tight. Bottom line: for a couple of bucks, voilà, your leak is no
