For years I’ve seen water spout out of that thing, the air gap at the back of the sink, when the dishwasher goes through its cycle. I always thought it was a natural occurrence.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when I noticed water was leaking under the sink, that I began to understand the purpose of the air gap. The leak was coming from beneath the air gap contraption. At first, I thought of calling a plumber. Then I reconsidered. I thought I might try to change the air gap unit myself.
At Lowe’s yesterday, one of the employees in plumbing said something I never knew: Water is not supposed to come out of the air gap while the dishwasher is working. The water is supposed to flow from the dishwasher into the garbage disposal. The only reason you see water flowing out the air gap is because the tube to the garbage disposal is blocked up. The air gap apparently prevents the bacteria-laden wastewater from flowing back into your dishwasher, and contaminating your dishes.
It Was Blocked by What?
I bought a new air gap unit for a few dollars. I went home and unscrewed the top off the old air gap. The air gap unit dropped down below the sink. Then I lay on my back under the sink and disconnected the hoses from the old air gap. I took the hose that ran from the air gap to the garbage disposal outside and held it up to the sunlight. No light was to be seen. It was blocked with YUKK.
I aimed my hose nozzle, set at jet stream, into the tube and, voila. Sunlight. I reconnected the hoses to the new air gap, pushed it into its hole through the sink top and screwed on the air gap cover. A 10-minute run of the dishwasher was all I needed to see that water no longer spouted from the air gap. Yahoo! I was proud of my work. As a bonus, there was no longer a small pool of water at the bottom of the dishwasher after the dishwasher cycle was over.
I wonder how many other things I see almost daily as natural occurrences that should not be happening. Maybe someone has made a list of such things. I’ll Google it. Nope. No lists of the sort.
Now I am really curious. I feel like questioning more of the things I see and do every day. Is the lamp over there supposed to be that dim? Is that noise coming from the printer supposed to be there? Are these essays supposed to be so easy to write?
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at Robertebsen@hotmail.com
