Husband poured boiling water down bathroom sink, huge row!

[ThatLilacHedgehog]

I have a blocked bathroom sink upstairs, my husband tried pouring kettle boiling water down the sink, I told him not to, but when he poured it, smoke from the boiling water was coming out from where the pipes are no water appears to be leaking, just steam from the pipes.

has my husband caused problems? Am I being unreasonable in being angry with him?

could the boiling hot water have melted or caused a leak in the pipes?

I wonder what else you give this man a hard time about.

I get where you are coming from op . When he poured boiling water down, it may have made some weird crackly noises and one or more joints may have leaked some steam.

That can be a bit frightening if you haven't come across it before.

It is unlikely to have done any damage.
Boiling water poured onto a porcelain sink itself can cause cracking or crackling of the glaze (cosmetically awful over time).
Boiling water poured over the chrome plughole fitment can cause expansion and where it goes into the plastic pipe, that pipe may crack if aged.
And depending on the age of the plastic pipes underneath, (and of their seals), yes, repeated use of boiling water and assosciated expansion and shrink back can cause degradation over time.

One off, or occasional pouring of Boiling water is unlikely to cause damage... unless your pipes are particularly old and perishing.

So I wouldn't panic, just apologise for being a bit over the top, saying the steam escape worried you a bit.

If the pipes melted you'd have known by now...

Also, Im sure you saw steam before? When it's cold and you breathe, it does not mean your throat/mouth are burning.

Yes, we do too :-)
Will follow your advice.
Actually DH is a plumber and have showed him this thread which has caused much amusement.

😂

I use boiling water to clear soap build up from pipes, though I do it weekly as a preventative measure. So, I'm on team husband.

180 posts of predominantly catty comments. No wonder the OP hasn’t come back 🙄

Well it was a silly post thinking boiling water causes smoke or melts the plumbing!
Poor hubby getting flamed for being sensible.

Oooo what thread is that? That doesn’t interesting🤣

@worthofbostworlds The way I read the OP:
"smoke from the boiling water was coming out from where the pipes are no water appears to be leaking, just steam from the pipes." , I didn't think she meant steam rising from the plughole. If she'd written 'plughole', I'd have thought differently.

In my fairly old house, with old plumbing, there is a bundle of piping below the sink -sink, bath, radiator. These are often a bit misty with condensation as they're located on an exterior wall and are generally filled with cold water.
My reading of the passage above led me to believe that the hot water going through the pipe from the sink may have caused any moisture on the outside of the pipe to evaporate, or 'steam' off. Not that far-fetched; steam and evaporation when hot meets cold is a daily feature in my bathroom.

Poor hubby getting flamed for being sensible.

Maybe that’s where the smoke was coming from.

This. Are you quite well OP?

🤣🤣🤣

It won’t have done much good, but it won’t cause any harm.

Wrong pvc pipes melt between 160°C and 190°C boiling water is only 100°C so it's impossible for it to melt or damaged the pipes with boiling water. Also many kettles are made from plastic (with a metal heating element inside) the kettles don't melt either.

This thread has been a right eye opener when it comes to the state of basic education in this country when you have ridiculous posts such as the op and the idiots who are posting nonsense as in the post I quoted

Page 8 already.
Eight pages of people telling the OP it's steam not smoke.
Eight pages of nastiness oneupmanship.
Eight pages of people not bothering to read the OP properly where the issue is with steam coming from the pipes and joints, not the plughole.
Are you well OP, have you been on the wine OP, what else do you argue with DH about OP.
Repetitive, derivative and nasty.
Well done.

Definitely unreasonable. He's trying to help which is more than doing nothing at all. If it didn't work try something else but don't get annoyed.

This. Some of the sneering posters are seemingly less intelligent than the OP if they can't actually grasp what she meant from her post.

OP hasn’t returned because she is finding it difficult to come to terms with the fact she is wrong on this occasion. Perhaps apologise to your DH for overacting and move on.

Or maybe it's the eight pages of bile.

From UK B and Q website : Depending on the type of plastic used, the pipes can be joined by simple push-fit connectors that contain rubber ring seals, by compression-type connectors with rubber 'olives', or by solvent welding - using specially formulated solvent cement that softens the plastic and dries to form a strong, watertight joint.

Avoid boiling water if your home has PVC pipes, as high temperatures can soften these materials, leading to potential damage. Always assess your pipe material before applying this method to prevent costly repairs or replacements.

@NotbloodyGivingupYet Its the truth and not bile. Some can handle it more than others!

She wasn't saying she was right. She was actually asking if she'd been wrong in reacting the way she did and whether her DH had potentially caused issues.

Avoid boiling water if your home has PVC pipes, as high temperatures can soften these materials, leading to potential damage. Always assess your pipe material before applying this method to prevent costly repairs or replacements.

This might explain how the joints loosened enough to allow steam to escape, but hopefully their watertightness hasn't been compromised.

Really? You think the posts on here are mostly factual and helpful?!