I used sink plungers in toilets pretty much my whole life until i scrolled across a similar diagram one day and discovered the truth.
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Someone watches reddit stories on smosh
Sorry, not this guy. I’ve never seen smosh.
Good post - needed it about a week ago 😂
Moved into a new place with high efficiency toilets and only had our old plunger. Spent multiple hours trying to clear it. I had no idea that these HE toilets are:
1.) More prone to clogs, need pipe maintenance
2.) Elongated and don’t work well with a normal plunger
Nearly called a plumber but on a final try picked up a BeeHive plunger at the hardware store.
Took a few attempts, but got it situated correctly and fixed the clog.
Haha dang, I’m glad you got it worked out.
Until I learned the difference, I’d slosh around in there with a normal plunger only after pouring lots of hot water in, which usually works great.
often, the toilet plunger will look like a sink one on the shelf because they pushed the flange up inside
I’ve used both and there’s not really an appreciable difference in my experience.
Hm, doubt it.
Instructions unclear, plunger stuck on the ceiling, shit water all over my feet and on the walls.
No, you got it.
That all sounds correct.
plunger room of death
This little bad boy here has changed my life.
That site has to be one of the poorest editing and proofreading jobs I’ve ever seen.
I refuse to acknowledge someone is plunging enough to have their life changed by a plunger. Unless you’re using that thing to do whipits.
Ha ha. No no. I’m pretty good. No problems with the old downstairs plumbing. But it’s not just for toilets. It’s for bathtub sinks clogged with hair. Kitchen sinks, etc… It’s just handy to have around the house. I even used it once to blow the dust out of my dryer vent.
Haha, that commercial is very funny, but it actually works?
is it shooting compressed air?
it has a 12 shot magazine?
I don’t quite understand what it is.
It’s essentially a handheld air cannon. The kit comes with a handle and a suction that covers the toilet hole or whatever. You press down and yeah…it’s basically a air-gun shot to the clog.
And yeah. It works great. Not always on the first blast. But I’ve never had it fail me.
awesome, good to know about.
Growing up my mom didn’t understand this and always insisted that the sink plungers were the only kind that worked (she also called them toilet plungers) and that toilet plungers (the fancy kind) were some kind of trick. Took until I was in college that I learned you shouldn’t have to break a sweat unclogging your toilet.
I strongly identify with this story.
I’ll keep that in mind next time I poop in the sink.
And the bidet’s right there.
Good thinking.
Damn and my kitchen faucet comes with a “power wash” mode. I can’t wait to blast boiling hot water up my butthole. 🤤
a blistering cleanse
It would literally have cost you nothing not to write that sentence down… but here we are
And the sink strainer is there to save and repurpose the corn.
Sustainable living.
Which brings up a good point; why would anyone need a plunger for a sink? If it gets clogged, nothing will help you short of a drain snake. And if your kitchen sink is getting clogged, it’s time to invest in a garbage disposal.
I’ve found a plunger useful for a sink occasionally, a bit of back and forth plunging can loosen up a hairball or break a layer of fat/soap scum. On the other hand I’ve never needed to use a plunger on a toilet - I don’t know how much of this is exaggeration on the internet but Australian toilets don’t seem to have anywhere near the amount of issues the American designs do.
Plungers certainly do help with sinks. Loosens up a partial clog easily in my experience.
Especially in combination with soda, vinegar and hot water.
Soda and vinegar is an odd combination. Soda is a base, making water alkali. Vinegar is an acid, making water acidic. Together, they make water neutral again, with a lot of pretty bubbles.
Either one can work really well depending on the stuff you need to get rid of. But adding one to the other just weakens it.
Mixing them together causes an exothermic reaction that releases a lot of CO2. Both the heat and the releasing of gas bubbles can also help to break up things. Also it’s unlikely that all will mix with all, so you get some pockets of basic and some pockets of alkaline, who knows what you’re trying to break up but some of either might help. The method they learned is kind of throwing everything at it cus something will work. You aren’t wrong, both methods have validity
Hmm, it seems to me most of those bubbles will happen not where you need them. Maybe if you throw in the base first and the acid later (or the other way around)
And the exothermic reaction is really weak. Barely gets warm.
I do this for a living. If you really wanna save yourself some money, depending on your plumbing(usually PVC, older houses might have cast iron), just put a bit of a cleaning agent and run hot water into your drain for 10-20 minutes weekly. The hot water alone every week will do more for your pipes in the long run.
If you’re doing this regularly you won’t have to run the water as long, maybe 5 minutes weekly. This helps to dissolve build up from stuff like grease and soap scum which catches other food debris and leads to clogs. Preventive maintenance is best, spend a little time and money now to save a lot of time and money later.
Mix in some red food coloring and you’ve got yourself a good time
Especially when it regurgitates back up in your other sink mixed with hair and grime
So weird. It always seems to pump air through the overflow and do no good. By the time you figure out how to plug the overflow, you might as well have taken off the trap and emptied it in the trash …… especially with PVC traps where it all just comes apart without tools
I just put my hand over the hole, takes two seconds. And I don’t have to clear out under the sink and get a bucket. (And it’s only very rarely necessary)
Many sinks do not have overflow drains.
Does this really qualify as a diagram?
i wondered the same thing!
i checked dictionaries and i think it does as far as the flange comparison is diagrammed to illustrate the technical differences in design.
what do you suggest?
My favorite with the flanged is all the shit that gets caught inside and splashes when you lift it out the water.
This is true for sure. You can definitely use either in either situation if you have to.
not at all effectively.
flanged plungers typically dont fit sink drains and will deform upon compression, and sink plungers dont create enough of a vacuum seal in the toilet outtake to be of much use without a lot of unnecessary effort and mess.
True but you can make it work if you have no choice.
in situations where the clog is mild, sure.
If the clog is severe, then you’ll make little and often no headway using a flanged plunger on a sink drain or a sink plunger on a toilet, no matter how long and frantically you thrust away and splash about.
the flanged plunger isn’t rigid enough to create the necessary vacuum or pressure in a sink and the sink plunger doesn’t create a tight enough seal to create the necessary pressure in a toilet unless the clog is mild in the first place.
Here’s the second iteration of the OG patent.
Originally the simply device on the left was the one plunger to rule them all. It works in sinks and toilets. The flange and the concept of a toilet-specific plunger was a later concept.
Yup, started with the cup and derived into the flange.
Thanks for linking the US patent!
A manual auger works even better and doesn’t splash
Every home should have an auger, but a plunger will work quicker, easier, and cleaner, 99 out of 100 times.
Yeah, I’ve had to help a neighbor with that 1 time out of 100. The plunger was just causing the water to slam against the turd that had created a perfect seal and splash back outside the toilet. It probably took at least 5 uses with the auger to finally clear out enough crap to finally break it apart enough to let it flush.
Fortunately, the second time I helped them with a nearly identical situation, the plunger worked. But it still took a few forceful plunges in quick succession. I was worried I might have to use the auger again.
manual auger
This is just code for ‘poop knife’, right?
I mean, it basically is a poop knife that can reach further down inside the toilet.
Poop drill.
Yeah, but getting it past the s trap is a pain. A plunger works for 90% of clogs.
Or start using the shower instead, and stomp it through the grate.
wafflestomp
The toilet plunger doesn’t splash, but toilet augers whip back and forth while you crank them, causing splashing, plus scrape up the toilet bowl.
Augers are way more work than a toilet plunger.
Wait…that’s a flange? I always thought those were just pulled out by accident, like turned inside out. I also always just ignored it because it never hinders anything.
Think about where the splashy toilet water goes when they’re flipped up inside the plunger. They’re shipped that way to cut down on carton space though.
Yes, that makes sense. TIL.
Yup, that’s a flange, designed for toilet drains
