Did you just see a ring or an earring disappear down the Drain in a sink, a bathtub or a shower? You know where the lost item is hiding, and now you need to retrieve it.

And sometimes, you are not the person who lost the items. Maybe they were dropped there by a previous occupant of an apartment or a house. The bottom line is that the older a sink or a shower is, the greater the likelihood that some piece of gold, silver or platinum Jewelry will be down there awaiting your discovery.

So, how are you going to retrieve those items?

If You Want to Retrieve a Piece of Jewelry that Is in a Bathroom or Kitchen Sink Drain . . .

You are going to remove the trap, a U-shaped piece of Pipe that sits below the sink. Because of its shape, items that are lost in drains are almost sure to end up sitting in the lowest part of them. So in order to find that lost ring or other item of jewelry, you are going to need to remove that trap.

Newer traps are almost always made of PVC plastic, making them relatively easy to remove. In many cases, you won’t even need a wrench to remove them. You can to the job using only your hands, Older traps are made of metal, requiring the use of a wrench, which makes them more difficult to remove. And if you are dealing with very old plumbing, things can become even more complicated because old drain pipes and traps are likely to break when you try to remove them. If that happens, replacing them will require a trip to your local home supply store. (In many cases, you can replace a broken metal trap or drain pipe with a modern plastic one made of PVC, which makes your job easier.)

So, what are the basics of removing that trap? Rather than trying to write out instructions, let us share with you this very clear video that we found on YouTube. It really takes the mystery out of removing that trap and retrieving what’s inside:

If You Want to Retrieve a Piece of Jewelry that Is in a Bathtub or Shower Drain . . .

This is a more difficult situation, since bathtubs and shower basins might not even have traps – they might have a straight run of pipe that drains the water away. And whether there is a trap or not, the pipes involved are probably hidden under the basin or tub, making them difficult to access.

But there are ways. One is to try to locate a trap, if one is there, and remove it. Another way is to use a powerful shop vacuum to suck the contents of junk that is in the drain back out again. To make this technique work, make a very tight seal between the input hose of your shop vac and the drain. Note too in order for this approach to work, you will need to manually close off any overflow drains that are located in the side of the tub. (You can often do this by removing the drain toggle plate and using your hand to tightly press a sponge over the round opening.) Then vacuum away and with a little luck, your lost item will be sucked up out of the drain.

There is still another way to retrieve jewelry that has been dropped into a shower or bathtub drain. Go to the basement and locate the large vertical stack pipe that drains the water from the bathtub in question. Whether there is a trap-like bend at the bottom of that stack pipe or not, chances are pretty good that your lost item of jewelry is hiding there. If you can unscrew the cover of a cleanout that seals the stack pipe at this location, your lost item could be there.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Whether you retrieve a lost piece of jewelry that you dropped into a drain or discover jewelry that was lost by previous occupants of a building, give our precious metal recycling experts a call at 800-426-2344 to discuss your recycling options. We are here to test your gold, silver, and platinum scrap and other discoveries, retrieve the gold they contain, and pay you the full market value of the precious metals they contain. Give us a call today.

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