Said It Here

Did a sink cleaner clog my air gap?

Sink cleaners can leave residue that clogs an air gap, causing water to gush out unexpectedly. This makes it difficult to know whether you need to take the entire pipe out to inspect and clear the blockage.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    checking if the garbage disposal plug was removed
  2. 2
    reaming out the blockage with a modified coat hanger
  3. 3
    using a vacuum to suck up debris followed by pouring hot water
  4. 4
    manually opening a gate valve on a weeping hole connection to relieve pressure

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Plumbing2 people · September 2026

Anyone have any solutions to a sump pump and check valve that keep getting air locked ?source ↗

Last night it must have been air locked and we got lots of rain and the basement partially flooded.source ↗

tune1021 · r/Plumbing · 2 upvotes

Just used a cleaner on it but based on this I feel like the cleaner clogged it more . I’ve never seen water gush out like this. Do I need to take the entire pipe out to inspect it?source ↗

Wooden-Flounder-8987 · r/Plumbing · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised