What's this drain? How do I clean it?

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agroot
Posts: 616
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 5:04 pm

What's this drain? How do I clean it?

Post by agroot » Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:27 am

I was shocked to find out that the drain below the bathroom sink is not a simple hole but something weird:

Image
Image

The black bottom is some sort of rubber bag, connected to the gray rubber tube which is normally inside in the west-south direction (also bag like; very flexible), and the water goes out from the tube.

It's been working well for years but today when I was dumping very finely-cut tea leaves, like the kind inside tea bags, it suddenly failed and water couldn't be drained, but there was absolutely nothing greasy. After messing with the tube for a hour or so it's back to normal, and I can't even tell what I did.

Can I just remove the stupid bag or dig holes on it? It's not a trap like those in shower or kitchen, and the design seems to keep some water to prevent undesirables from going up, but quite annoying given there is no manual or instructions left.


PS: it's not even a part of the drain cover, but maybe something old that wasn't removed during pipe renovations. I can't find anything similar to it in Finnish shops.



What's this drain? How do I clean it?

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riku2
Posts: 1088
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:13 pm

Re: What's this drain? How do I clean it?

Post by riku2 » Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:03 pm

The plastic looks like some kind of backflow prevention to stop water travelling up pipe into the sink. I have not seen it in Finnish shops either but there is something similar here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yikuo-Backflow ... NFGCN?th=1
If you could find a new version it would probably work better since the plastic is probably not as flexible as it was when new.


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