As you can see in this video, I stuffed so much paper in the bowl that I had to muscle-up to get it to go down.
Now on the surface you might be thinking “it can’t be that difficult to plunge a toilet?” Think again!
I can’t tell you how many times throughout my career I was called in for what seemed to be a routine clog only to end up having to use my toilet auger (another video) or worse yet, having to remove the bowl (another video) to find out what was causing the problem.
I’m getting ahead of myself so let’s just concentrate on the art of the plunger for this article. Plungers come in several shapes and sizes: tall ones , short ones, big and little alike. Heck they even make power plungers that you can pump up!
Generally when plunging a sink wether it be a kitchen, bathroom, laundry sink or even a bathtub I like to use a softer rubber plunger with a flat bottom. You can generally find these in the big box stores, they’re red in color and are just what I would call your good old basic plunger.
A different story when it comes to clearing a toilet, as you can see in this video I like to use a plunger that has a flexible male end on it so I can insert it into the opening of the bowl. This allows me to get a good tight seal around the base of the bowl so I can get maximum power while pumping away.
This plunger is also constructed of a harder rubber which in my opinion is the best choice for clearing toilet bowls. These are also available in the box stores as well as plumbing supply houses.
Look you’re going to be faced clogged toilet or sink sooner or later and in a pinch, a good old plunger can save the day. Now although you can use the plunger featured in the video for sinks as well, I own both styles because I feel the softer flat bottom version works better on sinks and bathtubs.
In the video I mention a way that you can prevent the bowl from overflowing if all of a sudden you see the water rising in the bowl.
Simply stay clam and remove the toilet tank cover, reach inside the tank and push the flapper down. You just prevented the tank from emptying into the bowl thus preventing a mess.
Hey my wife and kids do this when they see the water in the bowl start to rise.
If you still have questions about this or any of my videos, shoot me an an e-mail to info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.
HAPPY PLUMBING!
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