I used sink plungers in toilets pretty much my whole life until i scrolled across a similar diagram one day and discovered the truth.
I use a bidet and that cuts down on TP usage, but sometimes you get a big ol’ honker of a log ploppin’ out and that sucker just says, “Not today.” That’s when the trusty turd wrangler is your best friend.
One time I was at my mother-in-laws and clogged that some bitch. I couldn’t find a plunger. Turns out my sister-in-law took it when she went away to college, because she was too scared to buy one. I tried to text my wife, but I had no service. So I left it there and went and told my wife. My mother-in-law took a golf cart to the neighbor’s house and explained the situation and they let her borrow theirs. Meanwhile, I’m fucking mortified that the neighbors now think I have fiber intake issues.
Always keep a plunger in a bathroom with a toilet.
Bidet is the way.
There’s a lot of intriguing family history in your story. SIL scared to buy a plunger. MIL took a golf cart. Interesting group.
Bro, that ain’t the half of it. My father-in-law built an entire western town in his backyard and when he was done he built a Jurassic Park with dinosaurs essentially made of trash. Here is a shitty picture of the saloon with a bar in it. I’ll see if I can find some of the dinosaur pics too.
Yes PLEASE!
Sounds like you married right.
The signs and storefronts are amazing.
I see the inside of the saloon, is the general store a whole room are just the storefront?
that is amazing, give him my maddest of props.
Here’s a video of Western World. https://youtu.be/ug2U5PUSwA4
Here’s another one of his annual go cart track. https://youtu.be/E5ljFgmQ0MQ
I’ll have to find the Jurassic Park videos.
his annual go-kart track…I knew I wanted land when I eventually buy a house, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted it for.
now I have a lot of valuable inspiration.
please pass on my sincere congratulations and respect, Western World and the go-karts are awesome.
And yes, I’m ready to see the trash dinosaurs.
Yeah just casually dropping in there that his dad sets up a go-cart track for the family get-together in the garden, sure.
I’m bored as shit at work.
Im appreciative he did, i need to know eccentric wackadoos that build scrap dinos and saloons are around.
I found them. There was a zip line through this area too.
Oh man!
I didn’t realize they were fully fleshed out dinosaurs!
they look great!
I actually saw some scrap dinosaurs in Arizona, but they’re still metal and skeleton, no skin or color on them.
wow and the skin is even pebbled. that is so cool.
thank you for getting back to me and sharing those pictures. wow! those are huge dinos too
Damn that’s some impressive stuff! :o
He can do all that but not have a toilet that gets clogged so frequently his daughter is stealing plungers out of anxiety?
I’m not even joking, they got divorced last week.
damn that’s cool
That’s what the poop knife is for.
I try to get out… BUT THEY KEEP PULLING ME BACK IN!
This guy poop knifes
I’ll keep that in mind next time I poop in the sink.
And the bidet’s right there.
Good thinking.
And the sink strainer is there to save and repurpose the corn.
Sustainable living.
Damn and my kitchen faucet comes with a “power wash” mode. I can’t wait to blast boiling hot water up my butthole. 🤤
It would literally have cost you nothing not to write that sentence down… but here we are
a blistering cleanse
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.
Plungers certainly do help with sinks. Loosens up a partial clog easily in my experience.
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)
Babe quick, new toilet lore just dropped!
skibidi?
About 250 years old, thinking it’s new is why I wanted a YSK post.
yeah but I feel…
always had the left style ‘sink’ plungers growing up. they unclogged the shitter just fine.
Absolutely never, ever tried using a plunger on the sink. I guess our family didn’t clog the sinks so much? what’s clogging these sinks that they justify a plunger?
If you clean a fish and toss a couple scales, bones and fish skin down the sink, it will clog.
in the states, where houses have garbage disposals, I don’t think sink clogs are much of a problem anymore.
but most countries don’t have garbage disposals, and the original plunger design was invented 250 years ago, before much of modern plumbing and pipe design and everything, so it was useful to have any kind of plunger around.
you can make those couple plungers work for the toilet in a lot of situations, but for the toilet specifically a toilet. plunger is going to make your job way easier without any mess and splashing
yeah I have a disposal that will eat bones. never clogged the sink.
Was the og design for shitters or sinks?
Never had splash issues, I generally plunge pretty cautiously.
og was for drains in general at the time it was invented in the late 1700s, we didn’t even have flush toilets or anything more than cesspools, so there was no need to unclog blockages in household toilets.
The first one was wielded more like a hammer, so it really was just to knock shit loose from whatever hole it was in, apparently.
I definitely felt the same way about toilet plungers as you do until I used one.
until I… took the plunge?
Most plungers are both. Pull down the cone for the commode or push it up inside for the sink.
What kind of maniac uses it in a sink after using it in a toilet?
Who uses the same plunger for the toilet and kitchen sink?
I guess the kind that actually cleans the plunger after use. When I have to use one, after use, I take it outside and hose it off with the hose pipe then soak it in a bucket of bleach water.
The sink is one of the easiest areas of your house to clean with soap and water.
Ok but where’s the poop knife?
Where else?
on the poop knife peg.
The ol pkp.
Am I the only one who’s never used a plunger (and never needed to)?
You elfin anomaly.
Are you American though? Here in the UK, nobody really owns a plunger and they don’t need to, the plumbing is different, it doesn’t clog. Do need to own a toilet brush though, to wipe off the skidmarks, which is more rare in the US.
I am not, so I guess that explains it. Thanks!
Of course you are. Every other human on the planet is issued a plunger at birth. What’s wrong with you?
Eat more fiber.
My new toilet doesn’t fit either of the above shapes, but a “Beehive” plunger works great.
https://www.korky.com/parts/plungers/beehive-max-toilet-plunger
The toilet also flushed really well and hasn’t gotten plugged up even once yet, but I made sure to have one that would work as soon as the toilet was ready to use.
What’s different between the beehive flange and the toilet plunger flange? they look the same.
or perhaps I should ask what shape is your toilet?
I now just imagine them having a hexagonal toilet.
Hahaha, this must be it.
(USA) - I had the same issue as the user above due to a high efficiency toilet. The opening is more rectangular/ elongated than a normal toilet’s circular opening.
Here’s the toilet, though the pics aren’t helpful.
https://www.build.com/product/summary/618486
The exit hole is recessed backwards and squareish, with a wide channel. The flange doesn’t sit properly inside it, and the circumference of the bell is too small. With the beehive the circumference is wider, and it just sort of smothers the whole area, and pumps the water through its center hole, which has nowhere to go but into the exit. Like, it’s not anything precise, it would probably work great in a “normal” toilet just as well because it just fills whatever space there is.
Why did a regular one not fit?
Basically, it’s shaped weird and won’t make a seal. It’s a WaterSense toilet that flushes very efficiently with 1.28 gallons, with an unusual configuration of input/output under the water. Almost like a channel from front(ish) to back. If you try to use a plunger like those pictured, part of the channel isn’t covered, so you just push water back out into the bowl. Good thing I was trying it with a clean new toilet! The wide deep beehive shape lays rubber all into the space, pushing the water down into the exit hole.
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
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!
Until they start stiffening with age.
Usually age has the opposite effect, but I hear they make pills for that.
The epdm mine is made of is quite stiff after about 10 years of use
They’re talking more like 40 or 50 years. You’ve got plenty of time
Lkke i said mine is already stiffening after 10 years. Its almost like hard plastic now
It’s important to have the right-size flange for each hole, yes.
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.
Wow, jackpot upvotes!
Thanks.
I was just as excited as everyone here is when I found out what the flange is for.
Oh snip snaps cumulative upvotes jackpot!
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.
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.
