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We are (right now) trying to remove the trap under the bathroom since (my 13-year old dropped a necklace down it), but can't get the nuts to budge. Is there a product we can use to unstick them?
I was going to say the product you needed was some large channel-lock or 'slip joint' pliers, or a pipe wrench, or large regular wrench, or maybe two of any combination thereof... sometimes a little heat would help loosen the ring nuts or whatever they're called, assuming they're metal pipes
But at this point, I'd take it apart, put all the parts in a bag, and go to the 'pot and buy the parts that you need. It's not that hard to do. Or use a bucket until you can get a plumber over there...it's really pretty simple as plumbing projects go, a handyman type should have no trouble with this. You might turn off the water to the sink in the mean time, so nobody forgets and makes a mess of water under the sink.
The necklace was there. Actually, that's a whole story in itself. My 13-year-old had a boyfriend. At her age and in her school, what this means is they declare themselves as "going out" at school, though they never get together outside of school. (Thank God!) Usually only lasts a few weeks. But birthdays and Christmases are a big deal. Said boyfriend has a grandmother who owns a jewerly store, we learned, because he gave her for a Christmas present a diamond pendant necklace. Actually it is very sweet necklace, albeit utterly inappropriate and ridiculously over the top. Since then: (1) they have "broken up" (surprise), (2) my daughter loaned the necklace to a friend, who got it all tangled up -- my husband spent an hour working on in, and got all but one knot out of the fine gold chain, and (3) my daughter by mistake dropped it down the sink, causing the trouble that started this post.
I've done a lot of plumbing, so I've very comfortable with doing the repair. My husband is a perfectly good plumber EXCEPT he uses brute force when all else fails. I remember the time we lived in a condo on the top floor of a townhouse, and he used too much force on a pipe going into a toilet. Water gushed everywhere and into the condos below -- the one immediately below us was owned by a blind woman, so we had to clear her unit up as well. What a mess.
It was while I was checking how to unfreeze the joint that he decided to try "just one more time." And the rest was history!
Anyway, I suspect he was using the wrong type of pliers.
But isn't there a product that will help unfreeze joints? Will WD-40 do it? 3-in-one oil? I was going to try Naval Jelly, but it cautions against use on chrome. We will still have a problem (I suspect) getting out the broken pipe.
