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Today’s tip is quick and easy. Almost TOO quick and easy! I was debating back and forth about devoting an entire blog post to explaining this tip, but I was so excited about how well it worked that I decided to go ahead and post about it anyways. :-) I can’t help but get excited when I discover a solution to a problem that has been grinding on my nerves! This particular problem had to do with the built-in dish soap pump that came with my kitchen faucet.
When I got this faucet for my kitchen sink a year or so ago, I loved the idea of having a built-in soap dispenser! But in reality, the soap reservoir doesn’t actually hold very much soap in it to begin with, which means I found myself having to refill it quite often. And the process of refilling the soap isn’t very fun. I have to get on the floor to reach way back under the sink to snag the reservoir, then replace it once I’ve filled it. I had actually stopped refilling it for a while, just because it had been getting on my nerves!
But a week or so ago, I had one of those blinding “AHA!” moments. I thought to myself… rather than repeatedly filling up the small soap reservoir, why don’t I just tweak it so that the soap pump draws from a much larger source of soap? Armed with my idea and the soap pump from my sink, I headed to the hardware store to gather my supplies. And after I was finished, my soap dispenser idea worked like a dream.
Here’s how you can do it yourself:
Built-In Soap Dispenser Hack
You’ll need:
First, you’ll have to determine what size of vinyl tubing will fit your particular soap dispenser. I ended up just taking my soap dispenser pump with me to the hardware store, to ensure I found a perfect fit. The tubing that fit my pump is 1/4″ in diameter.
Remove the sturdy plastic tube attached to the soap pump, and slide it into one end of your clear vinyl tubing. Make sure it fits snugly so it won’t come loose and leak soap everywhere!
Feed the soap tube down through the soap dispenser hole at your sink.
Then, connect the pump mechanism back onto the original sturdy plastic tube.
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Take the other end of the vinyl tubing and feed it into the opening of your large bottle of dish soap. Make sure the end of the tubing rests against the bottom of the bottle, so you’ll be able to use it all without adjusting the tubing.
If your tubing is a bit long, just trim the extra length off with a pair of scissors. I ended up using about a yard of tubing, so maybe buy 4 or 5 feet, just in case. (The kind I bought at the hardware store was only $.50 per foot, so buying extra definitely won’t break the bank!)
And that’s all there is to it! I’m very much looking forward to all the weeks ahead of me that won’t involve refilling the soap dispenser. :-)
Update: I have now been using this system for over two years and it continues to work like a dream! :-)
