You’re not the only one who has ever dropped something down the bathroom sink and lost it in the drain.
Sink sides are so smooth that anything accidentally tapped into them will automatically go down the drain. Even a partially closed stopper or grate is unlikely to prevent an earring from disappearing.
Seeing the earring fall and go down the drain puts you in a better position than if the accident occurred when you weren’t around.
In this case, you can control what happens next by turning off the water and keeping it turned off until you can retrieve the earring from the P-trap.
If you disassemble the trap, you can reach into the drain. If an earring has fallen down the drain and is stuck, the best way to remove it is to try using a pair of needle-nose pliers to carefully grab the earring and gently pull it out.
How To Get A Ring/Earring Out Of The Sink Drain?
If the earring is too far down the drain to reach with the pliers, you may need to disassemble the drain to access it. If you need to disassemble the drain to remove the earring, follow these steps:
- Place a bucket or large bowl under the drain to catch any water that may be in the pipes.
- Use a wrench or pliers to loosen the slip nut that holds the drain basket in place. The slip nut is the large nut that is located directly below the drain.
- Carefully remove the drain basket and set it aside.
- Look down the drain and try to locate the earring.
- Use a flashlight to help you see if the earring is within reach.
- If the earring is within reach, use a pair of needle-nose pliers to carefully grab it and gently pull it out.
- If the earring is not within reach, you may need to remove the P-trap, which is the curved pipe that connects the drain to the waste line.
- Use a wrench to loosen the slip nuts that hold the P-trap in place, and then carefully remove it. Be sure to have the bucket or bowl handy to catch any water that may be in the P-trap.
- Once the P-trap is removed, you should be able to see the earring and remove it with the pliers.
After removing the earring, reassemble the drain and test it to ensure it is working properly. If you are having difficulty or unsure how to proceed, it is best to call a plumber for assistance.
How Does A Bathroom Sink Drain Work?
It is common for bathroom, kitchen, and bar sinks to have a trap below the sink where water drains into. A trap can be found under every sink in your house.
It has a curve in the middle where water always sits, preventing the main drain smell from returning into the room during the day.
Metal earrings or rings will be trapped when you drop them, as well as anything else that sinks. Inside the trap, I have found coins, screws, bolts, and nails.
The P-Trap Is There to Catch Jewelry
In the 19th century, plumbers probably weren’t thinking about jewelry recovery when they invented the P-Trap, but the device is excellent for catching and holding small objects, such as earrings.
If your ring fell into an overflow tube, it would go to the trap since it follows all paths from the sink to the trap.
If your jewelry wasn’t heavily flushed away by a strong flow of water, you could find it in the inverted “P,” which sits permanently in a pool of water to block sewer gases.
Try Reaching Into the Drain
It may be necessary to disassemble the trap to recover your earring, but before you do that, you could try pulling it from the drain opening using some sort of long implement.
You will have to remove the stopper if the sink has one. The steps are as follows:
- Locate the drain tailpiece under the sink and reach behind it to find the stopper lever.
- Pull the lever out of the tailpiece by unscrewing the nut. If you want to do this by hand, you should be able to do it.
- Disengage the lever from the stopper by pulling it back.
- Remove the stopper from the drain.
With a telescoping magnet, you can now attempt to retrieve the earring. In this case, gold and silver earrings often work since they contain steel, which is magnetic, rather than pure gold or silver.
Alternatively, you can use a Zip-It tool to remove the earring, which is a long, barbed length of plastic used to remove drain clogs. The barbs of the tool may catch on the earring as you fish it around the bottom of the P-trap.
Jewelry Down the Bathtub or Sink
P-traps are installed in all household drains but aren’t equally accessible.
You must disassemble the P-trap if you cannot retrieve your jewelry by reaching into the drain, which is easier with a sink than with a bathtub or shower. This is how to disassemble the sink P-trap, which is located under the sink:
- If anything falls out of the trap, put a bucket underneath it.
- Take the curved pipe that holds the water and loosen the compression nuts.
- Pull the trap away from the other pipes, then invert it and let the water leak into the bucket.
- Try looking inside the trap if you can’t find your earring. Maybe it’s trapped inside the mire.
The P-traps in bathtubs and showers are usually hidden beneath the floor or inside the wall and glued shut. If you lose your earring in the tub, you may need a plumber to help you retrieve it.
How to Retrieve Magnetic Earrings?
- Approximately 2′ is the right length for your string
- Make sure the magnet is tied to one end of the string
- To make the magnet secure, tape it to the string if you can’t tie it securely
- It may be possible to retrieve the item with a screwdriver if the item is visible
- You may need to remove the drain stopper if it is present
- It is time to fish it out
You will need to remove some pipes if your earring is not magnetic or if you cannot use the magnet and string method. Make sure any supplies below your sink are empty before you begin this project.
The drain stopper needs to be checked if you don’t find the earring in the trap. Sometimes, items will get stuck on drain stoppers due to hair or other nasty things sticking to them.
There is a drain stopper on the backside of the sink drain tailpipe that is easy to remove.
A small metal rod will stick out from the tailpipe under the sink and be secured to the pipe with a nut, a plastic rod if the drain pipe is plastic, and a metal pipe if it is metal.
Unscrew the nuts and pull out the metal rod to remove the stopper. Getting rid of the drain stopper is now possible. Drain stoppers have a rod attached to the bottom.
When you replace the drain stopper, the rod needs to be inserted into the hole on the bottom. If you lose jewelry down the sink and it floats, you are out of luck; it made its way past the trap.
Here Are Some Tips For Recovering Items That Have Gone Down The Drain
Your heart sinks as much when you hear something falling down your bathroom sink drain. It’s okay!
You don’t have to worry about losing your wedding ring or a small earring forever. Despite your inability to react quickly enough, you can take measures to recover lost items by recovering them yourself.
1. Install a Drain Guard
If you don’t like having to take apart your drain or spend hours looking for something, consider installing a drain guard.
Only small items that can fit through the small holes on the surface of the device will be able to travel down the drain, making it more difficult for valuables to be lost. You should do this before losing anything, of course!
2. Use a Four-Pronged Tool
Whenever you can’t reach down the drain yourself, try using a tool that can. Hardware stores sell inexpensive four-pronged tools that work effectively to locate and retrieve small, valuable objects.
It’s easy to grab items with a long, flexible rod with spring-loaded prongs, but sometimes it’s hard to tell when it’s found. If the drain is large enough, you could better see the item by shining a flashlight down it.
3. Use a Magnet
If you dropped something metal down the drain, you might be able to retrieve it with a simple magnet. You may want to attach a small magnet to a string or a small flexible rod that you can put down your drain.
Make sure not to drop the item again by slowly pulling up the magnet. Try a stronger magnet if you can still find your favorite jewelry piece.
Most pieces of jewelry are made of silver or gold, so a magnet won’t attract them. Try another method if that’s the case.
Final Words
If you find an earring or other item, don’t forget to turn on your sink’s water after you put it back together. If you have reassembled your pipes correctly and there are no leaks, run the water for a minute.
Before returning the retrieved item to use, ensure that it has been thoroughly cleaned. The earring or other item might have gone further into the drain if it wasn’t in the p-trap.
Unless you have professional help, you have almost no chance of retrieving the item without assistance.
