Can Clay Go Down the Drain?

As you probably know, you should never use a sink that is connected directly to normal household plumbing to rinse off your clay-covered hands or tools. If you do so without a clay trap to catch the clay particles, then they will settle inside your drain pipe and eventually clog it.

Here is a diagram to build a ‘Clay Trap’ for washing up after playing with clay and catching all of the clay particles before they go down the drain. It is not so hard to build as it uses very common items that you may have already.

What you will need:

• 2 buckets

• a large tub - big enough to hold the 2 buckets [see diagram]

• a length of tube/pipe - recommend about 30mm diameter or larger

• a hole saw the diameter of the pipe, or a sharp knife to cut holes in buckets

• some silicon sealant to seal around pipe

• a drill and drill bit to drill multiple holes in bucket

• a hacksaw or knife tool to cut the pipes to length