Take a deep breath—here's how to get your beloved jewelry back
Your jewelry can slip into the P-trap, a U-shaped pipe under the sink, where it stays safe until you remove the drain plug or loosen the slip nuts.
A flexible retrieval tool costs about $10 at hardware stores and helps you pull jewelry from shower drains after removing the drain cover.
You can try the magnet trick by tying a strong magnet to string and lowering it into the drain, though this only works for magnetic metals.
Hiring a local plumbing professional provides reliable help when jewelry falls into the garbage disposal or you need to safely remove P-traps without creating a mess.
Difficulty: ⅖; Flex your DIY muscles.
Time: 60 minutes
Cost: $0–$5
Cost details: You might need a thing or two.
Tools needed:
Magnet
Bucket
Tongs
Screwdriver
Wet-dry vacuum
Supplies needed:
Piece of string
Losing jewelry down the drain can happen in any number of ways. Maybe you took off your wedding ring to wash your hands and placed it on the counter, but then accidentally knocked the ring in the drain. Despite your cat-like reflexes, you couldn’t catch it in time. Don’t worry—it’s not a lost cause.
Before calling a plumber, follow these steps to recover lost jewelry from the drain.
If you’re looking to retrieve a lost piece of jewelry from a sink, here are a few strategies to try.
Before getting into the intricacies of your plumbing, see if you can capture that long-lost jewelry with a strong magnet. Tie your magnet to a string, and lower it into the drain. If your magnet fishing isn’t fruitful or your jewelry is silver or gold—which aren’t magnetic—go to step two.
Use the shut-off valves under the sink to turn off the hot and cold water or, if needed, turn off the main water supply to your home.
The P-trap is a U-shaped pipe under the sink. Most P-traps have drain plugs. Place a bucket under the P-trap to keep your rescue mission from becoming a mess, and if your trap has a drain plug, remove it to release the water. Take apart the trap by loosening the slip nuts on either side of the pipe’s bend. Dump out any remaining water, and your lost artifact should hopefully be there with it.
If you’ve lost a ring while tossing some food scraps down the garbage disposal, here are a few handy ways you can try and retrieve it.
Always use caution when trying to retrieve anything from the garbage disposal. Before doing anything else, you should switch the power off to the disposal at the electrical breaker box.
As noted above, you can try using a strong magnet on a string to attract your lost jewelry. Keep in mind that this strategy won’t work for gold or silver jewelry.
In some cases, you may be able to see your missing item in the disposal. If the item is visible, try to retrieve it with tongs, wooden spoons, or other long utensils. Shine a flashlight down the disposal to check. As tempting as it might be, you should never stick your hands inside the disposal.
If you don’t see the jewelry in the disposal, it could be in the P-trap. As mentioned above, you can remove the P-trap’s drain plug and take apart the trap by loosening the slip nuts on either side of the pipe’s bend.
If your jewelry is in the grinder, chances are it has damaged your disposal. Plus, retrieving this can be dangerous. You should call a plumber to inspect your disposal and remove the item.
Your morning routine can get way more hectic if your ring tumbles down the shower drain. Here are some strategies to help remove it.
The first step to retrieve your jewelry is to remove the shower drain cover. If you don’t see any screws holding the drain cover on, you should be able to just pop it off. Wedge a screwdriver behind it, and pull it up at an angle. If it has screws, remove them before popping off the drain cover.
If you can see the jewelry, remove it with a flexible retrieval tool. You can find these tools at a hardware store for about $10.
If you can’t see the jewelry, you can try sucking it out of the drain with a wet-dry vacuum. Turn the vacuum on using the wet setting, and insert the open end of the hose into the shower drain until it reaches the bottom.
With the vacuum still running, remove the hose, holding it straight up in the air. If the jewelry is in the hose, it will fall into the vacuum tank. Turn the vacuum off, remove the top of the tank and dump the contents onto an old towel. Sift through the debris to find your jewelry.
Be extremely careful if the drain cover needs to be screwed back in. The screws could easily fall down the drain, too. Whether you were successful in retrieving your jewelry or still need help, you should put the drain cover back on while you wait for next steps.
While it can be stressful when you lose an important piece of jewelry, it’s important not to panic. This situation can be frustrating, though, and it’s understandable to be upset. Even if a piece of jewelry is covered by insurance, it can still have sentimental value that’s impossible to replace, making retrieving this specific piece of jewelry from your drains a priority.
That said, you can make a huge mess if you’re not sure what you’re doing, and you should avoid damaging your plumbing system accidentally. If you’re still struggling to retrieve your jewelry, you should get in touch with a plumber near you for help.
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