I have a leaking drain in my kitchen sink

Question

There are two washers that are constantly coming loose under my kitchen sink. I've tightened and retightened both of them with a pipe wrench, but they always come loose.

They don't seem to be stripped or rusted or anything like that, so I'm guessing that I can probably fix them pretty easily, but I have zero experience with plumbing.

I was thinking that some type of a glue or wax could work, and I found something through a Google search called pipe dope, but it's hard to tell if it would be the best thing to use in my case.

Just wanted to make it clear that I live in a rented apartment. Since our landlord is a guy in his 80's who owns this building, which is a two story duplex, I usually heat try to fix the small stuff without bothering him. He used to do all of the maintenence himself, but he can't any more. He'd have to call his repair guy, and this is such a small thing.

We've lived here for three years now, and I've never had trouble with the plumbing in the kitchen until recently. I don't know what sort of materials were used whenever this plumbing was installed.

Any tips are appreciated!

Thanks!

Answer 1

Curious that they are coming loose, but pipe dope would insure a good seal and may gum up the threads enough to keep it from working loose again. I typically use pipe dope in the seal area, some always gets on the threads, it is non hardening, so it can still be disassembled when needed.

Answer 2

Anytime I have one of these joints leak, I install a new gasket and coat both sides with a little RTV silicone . Wait overnight or as long as practical to run water through the drain.