Said It Here

How to fix a sink drain without removing the P-trap

Fixing a sink without removing the P-trap is difficult because old plastic fittings frequently snap or strip during disassembly, leaving broken pieces behind. This forces you to work around stuck or damaged connections instead of starting fresh, which prevents a clean, leak-free repair.

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
    Using two 1.5 inch slip 45s and 1.5 inch tubing to offset
  2. 2
    Waiting until it backs up and calling a plumber
  3. 3
    Moving components around to fit them

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

Not sure now to remedy this, some pieces broke in the removal and needed to be replaced. What should I do?source ↗

DarkMatter_Myth · r/Plumbing · 1 upvotes

How do I fix this without removing the old p-trap?source ↗

GoldUnderstanding739 · r/Plumbing

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised