Plumbing

For a few days we have been conscious of a bit of a whiffy smell. He has claimed it's the kitchen sink, I have claimed it's the shower. He said we should put bleach down, I said we need Soda Crystals and a bit of plunging, but didn't actually do anything, whilst he put down some bleach, which helped a bit.

I pulled the plug out in the kitchen sink this afternoon and heard a glug-glug coming from the shower room. I stuck my head round the door and noticed a back wash coming into the shower.

Suddenly, he's going on about Spirit of Salts. Means nothing to me, but out he pops to the local hardware shop and comes back with Spirit of Salts. It's gruesome stuff, covered in warnings, and, although in liquid form, it gives off a noxious gas.

A bit of Googling later, it turns out to be Hydrochloric Acid, 'one of the most corrosive of the non-oxidizing acids'. If mishandled

Exposure to hydrochloric acid can cause circulatory collapse which may lead to death; it can also cause asphyxial death due to glottic oedema. It can also cause conjunctivitis and corneal burns, inflammation and ulceration of the respiratory tract, dermatitis, skin burns, rhinitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, pulmonary oedema, dental erosion, hoarseness, a feeling of suffocation, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dehydration, convulsions, oliguria, hypotension, chills, shock, lethargy, stupor, permanent visual damage, cough, and choking. Ingestion or skin contact with hydrochloric acid can cause corrosion of mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, and oesophagus, with immediate pain and dysphagia; it can also cause gastric haemorrhage and intense thirst.

So, he poured it down the sink and down the shower (using an old w-u-l bottle as an applicator) and we ran to the garden for 20 minutes.

For about five minutes I ran the tap down the sink. It wasn't nearly half as bad as it was before. Again I suggested plunging, and produced an actual plunger from under the sink (much to his surprise - the same surprise he expressed when I produced electric drill, spirit level, thing for detecting pipes and cables etc etc). I ran the sink tap and he plunged the shower.

What a foul smell, a mixture of HCl and mouldy soap etc! We're doing another run with the Spirit of Salts, and it will soon be time for me to run the tap again, hoping that Fresh Air will disperse the smell by morning.

What Jimmy didn't know is that I'm actually quite handy at Emergency Plumbing.

He's now going on about how useful Hydrochloric Acid is for disposing of bodies in the bath...