I used sink plungers in toilets pretty much my whole life until i scrolled across a similar diagram one day and discovered the truth.
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 edficiency toilet. The opening is more rectangular/ elongated than a normal toilet’s circular opening.
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.
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.
Proclaim the Gospel of W. C. Jesus!
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.
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.
I’d love to read more of these stories, if you have time to share them. Maybe !casualconversation@lemm.ee?
Ok, I’ll join.
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
I love this so fucking much. Eccentric people are the best.
Also somebody please invite this old dude to play D&D
He would very much rather smoke cigarettes and drink Bud Light in the yard.
Damn that’s some impressive stuff! :o
damn that’s cool
That’s what the poop knife is for.
I try to get out… BUT THEY KEEP PULLING ME BACK IN!
Hey I have this very specific problem whenever I use this thin-USE BIDETS, USE BIDETS OR YOU WILL REGRET IT FOREVER, IT USES LESS TOILET PAPER AND WHY AREN’T YOU USING THEM YET THEY’RE PERFECT AND GREAT AND…
How you sound right now.
Say that to my face. I fuggin’ dare you, dude.
Doesn’t surprise me that I’m talking to a literal mongoloid Neanderthal whose two neurons only have one function and that’s to bash against each other.
A manual auger works even better and doesn’t splash
Yeah, but getting it past the s trap is a pain. A plunger works for 90% of clogs.
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.
manual auger
This is just code for ‘poop knife’, right?
Poop drill.
I mean, it basically is a poop knife that can reach further down inside the toilet.
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.
Or start using the shower instead, and stomp it through the grate.
wafflestomp
Ok but where’s the poop knife?
Which raises the question of what the difference is between the sink poop knife and the toilet poop knife?
Where else?
on the poop knife peg.
The ol pkp.
I once lived in an apartment where the bathtub drain was pretty plugged. It would drain but every shower was done in a slowly rising puddle. I tried draino but it didn’t make a difference.
I eventually had a roommate move in and noticed right away that the tub drained better, asked him how he fixed it. He used the plunger. It blew my mind because up until that moment, I had thought a plunger was specifically for use with toilets.
Now I have a toilet plunger plus a smaller sink plunger since the size of the standard one can be awkward to use on a sink, plus the whole not wanting to use something that’s been in the toilet on things outside of the toilet.
Not that I’ve even had a plugged toilet in years, and, having a bidet, it’s even less likely going forward.
Bidet for the win.
that’s cool, I love stories with aha and oh-whaaaat moments.
i like the smaller sink plungers also,very useful little guys
Instructions unclear, plunger stuck on the ceiling, shit water all over my feet and on the walls.
plunger room of death
No, you got it.
That all sounds correct.
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!
I’ve used both and there’s not really an appreciable difference in my experience.
Hm, doubt it.
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.
cringe
okay…
nope, didnt get anything out of that.
try harder, if you do it right you’ll achieve nirvana
that must be it, i achieved nirvana ages ago.
Well that’d do it, what are you doing slumming it with us normies
hanging.
being all bodhisattva and shit.
it’s a fun way to encourage development.
I wonder what the history of this was, and why I never knew about this.
Was there always such a distinction? Did it apply to older toilets as well? Were all my parents, relatives, friends parents just cheap and got the wrong one?
I have only seen one in a commercial bathroom and I just assumed it had to do with those industrial shaped toilets they use.
I have IBS so that’s saying a lot.
“Was there always such a distinction?”
No, The first cup plunger was invented as the flushing mechanism in 1777, since the flushing toilet wasn’t invented until almost 1800.
that one looked pretty similar to cup plungers of today.
As far as I can find, accordion and flange plungers were developed later to accommodate the standardized outtake valves of modern toilets.
“Did it apply to older toilets as well?”
Yup, except the first cup plunger was held like a hammer rather than a plunger is held today.
“Were all my parents, relatives, friends parents just cheap and got the wrong one?”
Mine certainly were, and again, this design difference is for some reason not common knowledge, so it’s more likely they just didn’t know that the flanged plunger is specifically made for toilet drains.
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
often, the toilet plunger will look like a sink one on the shelf because they pushed the flange up inside
Most plungers are both. Pull down the cone for the commode or push it up inside for the sink.
Who uses the same plunger for the toilet and kitchen sink?
The sink is one of the easiest areas of your house to clean with soap and water.
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.
I just rinse off the plunger in the new toilet water. Never had an issue.
Plus you can do a double check flush to make sure it’s all clear.
What kind of maniac uses it in a sink after using it in a toilet?
Clean it first. Then clean the sink after using soiled plumbing tools.
Just buy a new sink after you unclogged it.
y’all motherfluffers never heard of bleach
I have to finish Attack on titan first.
I prefer not to put my hand on the business end of the doodie derby rod, thank you very much
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.
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:
- 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
- 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.
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.
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(one covers a drain, while the other creates a seal with a toilet outtake by fitting inside the outtake) and are not interchangeable.
Your premises are flawed and your conclusions are incorrect.
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.
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.
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.
