My toilet plunger is seeing another woman.

lol What are you trying to clear? Toilet? Sink? Tub?

I think you may be jumping to conclusions. If he's been faithful this long it's hard to believe he hasn't grown used to your loving grip and pumping action.

Maybe it isn't another woman.

Given his age, maybe it's... A car.


Check the plumbing for little matchboxed size versions. This was a big thrill for Cub.

I hope that's what it is. At least with that you can compete.

I recently decided toilet plungers aren't what they used to be. Cheapo versions not making the grade..
But yours IS what it used to be. Hmmm.
My so-called contractor is supposed to come back and fix Toilet No. 1, that he installed. Never has worked right. He said that yellow seal goop may be in the way somehow...

I hear Mr Drano down the street is pretty hot, and tough on stuck up things like that...

Re: My toilet plunger is seeing another woman.

"Say, Mr. B., can you plunge the toilet when you get a chance?

ah, boomer. I am sooooo sorry. Now you will have to refer to him as the plumber's friend.

Try a little sympathy. Instead of one mighty plung to blast everything out at once, let him know you understand that a bunch of quick jabs in rapid succession is just as good, and maybe better.

Supposing that approach doesn't work, remind the slacker that straight hydrochloric acid (sold as muriatic acid) is waiting in the wings if he doesn't straighten up and fly right.

I have two different plunging scenarios.

One is a huge double sink in the basement. It wouldn't be a big issue if it wasn't the sink that the washer drains into. When the sink backs up the washer shuts down because, I suppose, the hose can't drain right.

Because I am an erratic laundress I don't pay immediate attention to when the washer should be finished knowing that sometime later that day it should be done and I can thow the clothes in the dryer. So I wander down and open the washer door -- it's a front load washer -- the water comes pouring out the door and all over the floor.

Fun!

Becuase it is a double sink when you plunge one side the water comes up the other side. So you plunge that side. Then the other. Then the other. Then the other. And so on and so forth until you're day is ruined and the water level is low enough to run the "rinse, drain, spin" cycle.

This will keep things working for a couple of days and then you have to do it all over again.


The second scenario is the downstairs toilet. Typically you can get it clear with mere hours of backbreaking plunging. Then it will work long enough for you to get complacent and not think that maybe it's a good idea not to climb upstairs just this once. Then "HaHa".

This time it is just laughing and laughing because I cannot get it unplugged. I'm thinking maybe Mo tried to flush the sofa down it or something.

I could live with one working toilet if it was the downstairs toilet.

It is really tons of fun to have the roofers and the ditch diggers and the concrete guys and assorted other people tromping through the house to use the upstairs bathroom.

Yeah, yeah, they're all very nice and polite about it but I have to keep the damn place company clean and who want's to do that in the upstairs bathroom?

I've tried both gentle and burly with the downstairs toilet but that sofa just ain't budging.

shewolf, I don't think you can put draino down a toilet. I'll have to read the label but I'm pretty sure that's a no-no.

Hydrochloric acid! That sounds promising! Where does a regular girl procure such chemicals?

Thank you all for your emotional support and your plunging advice. I've got to run -- I'm going to buy a car for my plunger.....

Block the other side. Duct tape is your friend.

Seriously, our upstairs sink cannot get cleared via plunging unless we block the tub drain in that bathroom. The two are related in our older house, and something similar may be the case with yours as well.

Also, make the plunger jealous and buy a snake. You know, sometimes a girl just needs a little, erm, help to get her going. If yanno what I mean.

Ha! Ok, this one is easy enough to remedy. Your plunger doens't need a car. It needs a little brother!

As you've noticed, when you use the pliunger on one side everything comes up the other. So you aren't really plunging as much as you're sloshing.

Get yourself a little baby plunger and force it down over one drain while you work your current plunger over the other. That way you've sealed things up and the force from the plunger is actually working where it should be - down in the bowels of your drain.

On your toilet issue I've got nothing. If you are working that hard on it then, if it were me, I'd yank the toilet up and make sure that it is clear inside and then run a snake down the pipe while I had it off. If neither of those fix it then you need a power drain auger - i.e. time to call the Roto-Rooter guys. (If you are feeling especially handy though, Home Depot rents them out.)

Sorry about your sofa. Bad Mo!

I agree with fishin. Its roto rooter time.

The fact that your downstairs toilet and basement tubs are both a problem probably means there is a blockage further along the sewer line than your plunger can act on.

If you can put draino down your sink you can put it down your toilet, they both go to the same place. However its not a good idea to put draino into standing water.

Both drains seem to run through different pipes so I'm not sure it's the same clog at all.

The baby brother thing makes sense. I'm thinking I will need an old-school plunger, like the one Letty posted to be the baby brother. I have a fancy-pants plunger that it kind of like a bulbly accordian type thing. It doesn't really "stick" when you push it down.

They old owners did replace the sewer pipe about two years ago after receiving several death threats.

So anyway.... isn't plumbing kind of a series of tubes -- like the internet? I don't think all the tubes I'm having trouble with are going to the same web site.

Or something.

First things first. Take that accordian plunger thingy you've got and throw it in your garbage can. Then go buy TWO of the old style plungers.

(Plungers are cheap! $3-$4 a piece. )

The drains in the sink are connected. That's why water splashes back up through one side when you plunge the other. You don't relly need two plungers though. When I clear those I wad up a rag and soak it first. Then I stuff into one of the drains and hold it there while I use the plunger in the other.

One snake.

Two old-skool plungers.

Determination and focus.

Vinegar and hot water once you've got things woooooooooshing properly.






(note to self: buy more vinegar)

I got this thing called "one second plunger" -- available at any home improvement store, I'm sure. Sort of a compressed air canister with a rubber disk to fit over the appropriate drain. More expensive than a regular plunger, of course, but it's fast and painless. Then again, I don't have kids

THE tool. (Grunts)

Dadpad stole my thunder.





"If it's worth doing, it's worth doing with power tools!"

That'll do a lot of damage to a car!

(Hoping it's a matchbox down there and not a power ranger or thundercat. Those evidently look really cool getting flushed, too.)

Hmm, we had a house once that had plumbing issues the previous owner claimed to have fixed. After a couple of years it was properly diagnosed as a tree root way out at the front of the yard. Luckily, that made it a city problem rather than a squinney problem.

ebeth has a good suggestion for you too. I had a shower drain that kept getting slower and slower through application of several brands of grocery store clog removers as well as an industrial strength one I purchased from a janitorial supply store. Nothing worked.

I finally read in my Haley's Hints book about using baking soda and white vinegar and decided to give it a try since the drain was now nearly completely blocked. I purchased a couple boxes of baking soda for $1 and a gallon of white vinegar for $3 and after three applications of baking soda followed by vinegar and a lot of bubbling, the shower drain is as clear as the day I moved into this place several years ago. I could have saved myself nearly $100 if I'd had more confidence in simple chemistry rather than all the marketing gimicks sold to consumers.