I used sink plungers in toilets pretty much my whole life until i scrolled across a similar diagram one day and discovered the truth.

  • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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    7 months ago

    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!

  • @NineMileTower@lemmy.world
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    1017 months ago

    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.

    • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      47 months ago

      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.

      • Hemingways_Shotgun
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        67 months ago

        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.

      • Hemingways_Shotgun
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        27 months ago

        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.

  • Alinor
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    267 months ago

    Am I the only one who’s never used a plunger (and never needed to)?

    • oce 🐆
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      7 months ago

      Nope, same and never heard others talking about it in real life. I’m guessing there is some design issues in the American toilets that is not a problem in Europe. Or it’s the large portions of low quality food?

      • @samus12345@lemmy.world
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        117 months ago

        American plumbing is shit (pun intended) compared to Europe’s. Source: I lived in Germany for 10 years and never once needed a plunger, while I’ve needed them regularly in the US.

        • @bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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          17 months ago

          I think it has to do with the fact that most European toilets put the reservoir up high either on or in the wall, and gravity helps blast the dook down the drain. I have one of those up high ones with the chain flush in my house (US), and that toilet never clogs.

          • ms.lane
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            27 months ago

            Australia- never needed a plunger and unless your house is 70+ years old, the cistern and pan are always close coupled.

            That said, for a Toilet the sewer connection is 100mm DWV and we use washdown toilets (as most of the world does) vs. American siphon toilets, which use an absolutely massive amount of water and a tiny little trapway to create a siphon that sucks the waste down - that tiny little trap is what gets clogged.

            I think Americans would probably sooner move the Metric system than change to a better pan design.

          • @samus12345@lemmy.world
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            27 months ago

            Yup, and I had shit shelf toilets pretty much the whole time since it was the 80s and 90s. They probably would have been harder to plunge, so good thing they never needed it!

          • @samus12345@lemmy.world
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            37 months ago

            Indeed, it was very noticeable to me when I moved back here and had to actually consider how much toilet paper there was before flushing. German toilets took whatever I put in there!

    • @guy@lemmy.world
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      137 months ago

      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.

    • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      67 months ago

      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?

      • @Winged_Hussar@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        (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.

      • @Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        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.

      • @Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        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.

  • Kokesh
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    37 months ago

    I guess you get less shit smeared on the top.

      • @mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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        27 months ago

        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?

        • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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          7 months ago

          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

          • @mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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            17 months ago

            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.

            • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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              17 months ago

              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?

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]
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    57 months ago

    Sink plungers without the flange work better on sinks, in my experience. So it’s nice to have one of each.

    There are different builds for drainage snakes for sinks and toilets as well.

    One way to be a better neighbor is to get a good drain snake and lend it out as needed.

  • BigFig
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    17 months ago

    Someone watches reddit stories on smosh

    • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      107 months ago

      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.

    • limonfiesta
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      7 months ago

      Every home should have an auger, but a plunger will work quicker, easier, and cleaner, 99 out of 100 times.

      • @doughless@lemmy.world
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        47 months ago

        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.

    • themeatbridge
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      77 months ago

      Yeah, but getting it past the s trap is a pain. A plunger works for 90% of clogs.

  • @iamjackflack@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    This is wrong. Some toilets use the normal “sink” plunger because the exit opening is too large for the “toilet” marked style. You get either or whatever fits your toilet. It’s not specifically for sink only.

    • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      7 months ago

      Not at all.

      “You get either or whatever fits your toilet. It’s not specifically for sink only.”

      Incorrect.

      The cup plunger is designed to fit over drains on flat surfaces, while flanged plungers are designed to fit inside the outtake valves of toilets.

      “Some toilets use the normal “sink” plunger because the exit opening is too large for the “toilet” marked style”.

      This is also wrong because:

      1. The flange is as wide as a cup plunger for sinks anyway, so a sink plunger won’t work if a toilet outtake is too wide for a toilet plunger, and
      2. the toilet plunger is made to fit inside the outtake of the toilet, not over the mouth of the drain like a cup plunger.

      they are completely different designs and have different use-cases that you will only give you and others more trouble and mess for by not knowing and spreading misinformation.

      • @iamjackflack@lemm.ee
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        17 months ago

        I am not wrong. There are toilet designs where the flange style literally doesn’t cover the exit chute. I have one. I have to use a “sink” style type. The flange style is small and does not form any type of seal due to the shape and size. It’s literally impossible that it is the correct solution. Everything I said is 100% correct.

        • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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          7 months ago

          you are wrong.

          “There are toilet designs where the flange style literally doesn’t cover the exit chute.”

          The flange is not designed to cover the exit chute, but rather to fit inside the outtake.

          This is also apparently due to your specifically atypical plunger.

          “The flange style is small and does not form any type of seal due to the shape and size”

          since flange and cup plungers are the same diameter, you are clearly having an anomalous problem that you should not be drawing broad conclusions from.

          cup plungers and flange plungers are specifically designed to address different problems, to be used in different manners(the cup covers a uniform drain on a flat surface while the flange creates a seal within the sloped and curved toilet outtake by fitting inside the outtake) and are not interchangeable.

          Your premises are flawed and your conclusions are incorrect.

          • @iamjackflack@lemm.ee
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            07 months ago

            Literally don’t give a shit what you say. I am not wrong. On this specific toilet, the flange style literally doesn’t seal and CANNOT perform a push / pull to unclog a drain due to the exit profile and shaping.

            You are not right no matter how smart you think you are.

            • @Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
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              7 months ago

              You are arguing that a baseball cap works equally as well as putting a sneaker on your head.

              It doesn’t, because while a sneaker is designed and meant to cover your foot, a baseball cap is designed and intended to cover your head.

              A sneaker makes an ineffective ballcap and a ballcap makes an ineffective shoe.

              Two separate items with separate designs and use-cases.

              • @iamjackflack@lemm.ee
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                07 months ago

                I think you are failing to understand the design / curvature / multiple radius features of the exit point and that the flange style literally cannot form any remotely close to passable seal to do its job. Idk what to tell you but your not right no matter how you think you can phrase it.