How to kasher sinks for Pesach

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  • #608441
    yitzyk
    Participant

    I came across an ad last week about a new service, to come to your house to kasher your sinks for Pesach.

    I was interested in knowing how they do it (possibly an Immersion Heater) and considered hiring them, depending on the price. I have two stainless steel sinks, and kashering them is a messy and tedious task.

    So I planned on going back to the ad to get the phone number.

    That’s when old age caught up to me. I have been racking my brain and leafing through newspapers and magazines since last Friday, but I cannot find the ad. It might have been an email or website ad too. I have an image of the ad in my mind, but I am completely blank as to the source.

    Okay, maybe it is a misleading title, but can anyone help me find the ad?

    I would not mind knowing where to get an immersion heater big enough for the job, to maybe try it myself one day. I once tried to make one using a heater core of a 110V Electric water heater. I came close, but the core was very old and it broke. A think a new one might be too expensive to experiment with.

    #1070564
    twisted
    Participant

    Many hold irui roschin is enough for stainless sinks, A few racing kettles should be enough for most.

    #1070565
    rebdoniel
    Member

    We just clean the sink, use a sink liner and a rack, and use 2 pesahdik basins for washing dishes.

    I’ve heard even of people using their bathtubs for washing out pots and pans on Pesah (granted, they don’t wash anything chometzdik there).

    #1070566
    yitzyk
    Participant

    I have always used Mayim Roschin from a Kli Rishon (many of them in fact.) But I just learned it inside in the M”B, and it is not so pashut. When I pour a hot chicken soup pot into a smaller pot on Erev Shabbos, sometimes a hot kneidel or other ‘Davar Gush’ could fall into the sink. The same happens when straining noodles, some hot noodles miss the strainer and fall into the sink.

    According to many, a Davar Gush does not lose it’s heat, and therefore it is not called Eirui Kli Rishon, but Kli Rishon itself. As such, it would require more than just pouring water onto the sink. It would require the addition of a hot rock to bounce the water off of. This additional step (which I was considering being machmar for,) seems like too much of a hassle to attempt. An immersion heater, which actually boils the water inside the sink and does a genuine Hagalah, seems like an alternative worth looking into. I was curious if that service had one.

    Granted, there are many kulos one could rely on here. To mention a few:

    – Not everyone agrees that a solid food inside a Kli Rishon does not lose any heat when tranferred to another Kli.

    – That is not ‘Rov Tashmisho’ of the sink

    – It won’t be a Ben Yomo when the kashering will be done.

    Some people mentioned that they saw this ad on poles in flatbush/midwood. But no one remembered the phone number yet.

    #1070567
    yitayningwut
    Participant

    According to many, a Davar Gush does not lose it’s heat, and therefore it is not called Eirui Kli Rishon, but Kli Rishon itself.

    Granted, IIRC the Mishna Brura brings this svara to require a hot stone to kasher a sink. However, it seems very shver to me.

    There is a mefurashe Gemara (Pesachim 75a) that when a hot piece of meat falls onto something it only assers b’kdei klipah because tata’ah gavar. A piece of meat is a davar gush.

    No one argues on this Gemara, not Rabbeinu Tam who holds irui kli rishon has the actual din of a kli rishon, and not the Maharshal who holds a davar gush doesn’t lose it’s kli rishon status. They don’t argue with Gemaras.

    See YD 105:2 and the nosei keilim. It appears clear that the fact that something retains kli rishon status doesn’t make it capable of assering things below it; that is the halacha of tata’ah gavar. Rather according to these opinions they still maintain their heat in that if something is placed, for example, on top of the davar gush, we will say the thing becomes assur as if the davar gush is still in a kli rishon.

    Therefore it seems pashut to me that even if you want to be choshesh for the Maharshal, you don’t have to be choshesh for anything more than klipah anyway. And klipah you can get away – l’shitas Maharshal himself – with irui kli rishon. And we certainly are meikil like this with this klipah of tata’ah gavar which is only a chumra k’mvuar b’poskim.

    So I don’t understand the big fuss. It seems to be chumra on top of chumra in the ???? ???? ???? sense.

    #1070568
    yitzyk
    Participant

    I appreciate the explanation. I am very relieved. I am not a posek or rav, just a Bal Habayis. And YWN is not a Halacha Sefer. So I still don’t know whether there is any source to be machmir or not, but at least now I don’t feel bad about all of the past years that I just did Irui from a Kli Rishon. (Maybe there is a shita that argues against the whole method of Hagalah using just Irui?)

    Although it is important to know and understand the sources of Kulos and Chumros, it is wrong to call a chumra a fool. Just look at the Shulchan Aruch, Remah, and Mishnah Berurah. I just learned through about half of M”B Chelek 5, and in some places there are indeed chumros on top of chumros for even a slight Chashash. And then in other places he says that it is only a minor chashash anyway, so you could be someich on bitul or Rov or something similar. The inconsistency and confusion had my head spinning.

    #1070569
    thehock
    Member

    There is a kashering kit you can buy in a frum store (probably hardware?) that comes with a large size pot and brick with handling device.

    #1070570
    wanderingchana
    Participant

    Why can’t you just use a blowtorch? Less messy, unless a fire extinguisher becomes necessary, in which case you have more to worry about.

    #1070571
    twisted
    Participant

    I would strongly discourage you to blowtorch a stainless sink. You can warp the metal or otherwise change its molecular mix and it will never be the same.

    #1070573
    twisted
    Participant

    yitzyk, the element of a water heater should be in the $20-30 range if you want to experiment, or if in EY, the element for a dud shemesh can be had for about 20 nis. Just take care not to shock yourself or worse rlzn. But about cooking your sink to Kli rishon, do you account for the goo that holds it to the counter, the rubber gasket on the drain, and the grunge that collect under the strainer?

    #1070574
    🐵 ⌨ Gamanit
    Participant

    We have a dedicated pliers for kashering… we have it heat up on a flame until it turns purple from the heat, pour hot water directly from a kettle, then immediately lift the pliers with a rubber handled pliers that wasn’t heated up and slide it over the area… I love hearing the water sizzle. We also use the brick kit to be really sure. for the sink we do the same thing, followed by filling it with boiling water from a giant pot and dropping in the brick and pliers together.

    #1070575
    shmoolik 1
    Participant

    it is difficult to make a stainless steel sink chametz it must be filled with boiling water and then chametz fall into it otherwise it needs a cleaning with somthing that spoils the chametz that is stuck possibly on the side and an irui of boiling water

    #1070577
    Jewish Thinker
    Participant

    Kashering a sink is one of the hardest kashering jobs, in my opinion.

    #1070578
    Jewish Thinker
    Participant

    But, bdieved if one didn’t kasher his sink, it would probably bdeived be good enough to througly clean it and have it not ben yomo so the taam because pagum.

    #1070579
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    Some people iron their sinks.

    #1070580
    Jewish Thinker
    Participant

    DaasYochid- Do you agree that bdieved you can still use your sink if it is not ben yomo and you didn’t kasher it? (If it was cleaned) (Obviously, don’t rely on this lechatchilla)

    #1070581
    Jewish Thinker
    Participant

    STAM KELIEM AINO BEN YOMO

    IF you know that you did use it in the past 24 hours, then it is not stam anymore.

    #1070582
    Jewish Thinker
    Participant

    Ask your Rav about kashering your sink.

    #1070583
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    It depends how you’re using it.

    #1070584
    IvduEsHashemBsimcha
    Participant

    We use a blowtorch. It’s pretty cool, actually.

    Chag kasher v’sameach – a gut yom tov!

    #1070585
    yerushalmi in exile
    Participant

    some kashrus organizations use a blowtorch and spray water sow it is a hagoloh in a kli rishon, i use small (4″ )blocks of marble (scraps from the counters) heated on the stove, and pour water onto them, it cooks!

    #1070586
    takahmamash
    Participant

    From the Star-K website:

    ERUY ROSCHIM

    Sinks are generally made from either stainless steel, granite composite, china, porcelain enamel, steel, or Corian.

    Stainless steel sinks can be kashered using the following method: Clean the sink thoroughly. Hot water should not be used or poured in the sink for 24 hours prior to kashering. It is recommended that the hot shut-off valve under the sink be turned off 24 hours before kashering. Dry the sink before kashering. Kashering is accomplished by pouring boiling hot water from a Pesach kettle/pot over every part of the stainless steel sink. Tip: If a roasting pan is filled and heated, the pouring surface is much wider than a kettle spout. It is not sufficient to pour water on one spot and let it run down the sink. The poured water must touch every part of the sink, including the drain and the spout of the water faucet. It is likely that the kashering kettle will need to be refilled a few times before kashering can be completed. After kashering, the sink should be rinsed with cold water. If hot water was used in the sink accidentally during the 24 hour dormant period, and there is not enough time before Pesach to leave the sink dormant for an additional 24 hours, a shaila should be asked.

    China sinks cannot be kashered at all. These sinks should be cleaned, not used for 24 hours, and completely lined with contact paper or foil. The dishes that are to be washed should not be placed directly into the sink. They must be washed in a Pesach dish pan which sits on a Pesach rack. It is necessary to have separate dish pans and racks for milchig and fleishig dishes.

    Porcelain, Corian or Granite composite sinks should also be considered similar to a china sink, since there is a controversy as to whether these materials can be kashered. Granite composite is a material fashioned from granite and plastic. Most sinks that look like granite are actually granite composite.

    #1070587
    cherrybim
    Participant

    Easiest way is to use an electric steam machine; quick, inexpensive, not messy, hotter than boiled water.

    #2179006
    Lomeid Mikol Adam
    Participant

    @cherrybim Rav Moshe writes in Igros Moshe Y”D Chelek Gimmel, Siman Lamed (from 5713) – that steam should not be used for Hagalah for Pesach. In Igros Moshe Y”D Chelek Alef, Siman Samach (from 5718) he writes that steam should not be used for Hagalah even in a glycerin factory to Kasher from Treif glycerin (seemingly even for the rest of the year) – I think he mentions there (Siman Samach) that if the steam turns to boiling water (212 degrees F), then that water can be used for Hagalah (however, it’s probably not so easy to accomplish this with most electric steamers, especially those that are designed not to leave a mess).

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