Struggling with soap dispensers

Do you have a soap dispenser built into, or next to your kitchen sink ? We do, and in fact the first one we had was 12 years ago when we built the house we’re now living in. I doubt the plumber even tested the device after it was installed, but what’s certain is that it never worked! In addition, after many fruitless attempts I never was able to make it function, so was the device dysfunctional, was I doing something wrong or just plain stupid? 

Well, soap dispensers are one of those deceptively simple devices that can be maddeningly tricky. If it hadn’t worked for so long, chances were it was either a design flaw, a clogged mechanism, or a small installation issue rather than anything I was doing wrong. 

There are in fact many possibilities for this. First the soap can thicken or dry out inside the straw/tube, blocking suction. 

Also, if the pump isn’t sealed tightly to the bottle or tube, it won’t draw liquid. Many systems like mine were attached to the bottle and if it wasn’t seated properly under the sink, the pump couldn’t reach it. 

Pump dispensers designs also vary and are notorious for failing after a short time. Some brands simply don’t hold up. Finally there’s the nature of the soap that can gum up the pump. Dish soap or thinner liquid soap works better. 

Recently, I finally decided to address the problem with more determination than ever. I first flush the tube after removing the pump and rinsing it with hot water until clear. Of course, I checked the straw and made sure the straw was fully seated and not cracked or too short. Then I refilled the bottle with water, primed the pump more than 30 or 40 times and nothing came out of the spigot. Crazy, isn’t it? 

So, after doing all this I’ve finally decided to replace the built-in dispenser with a new pump kit that will directly feed inside a detergent bottle located under the sink, on its floor and will make sure to switch to a thinner dish soap or dilute it some (about 30%) to make sure it flows better.

I’ll let you know how this goes!