These dirty, antisocial habits would end if the perpetrators had to clean up their resulting mess. Lets have some community service lol. It’s time the government and water companies campaigned hard. It makes me sick a big proportion of my bill goes to cleaning up after these people.
Having said that I don’t know anyone who uses a plunger on a regular basis, but I don’t think they use the toilet as a bin.
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Never had an issue and I have 100 year old plumbing in the Boston area but I don’t think it’s a bad idea just in case. Thanks for bringing up the topic. Ordering mine now.
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Yes my plumbing is over 100 years old too. In the last 5 years I have had 1 problem from a guest flushing a non flushable item, and they paid for the repair.
Bizarrely my gulley in the back garden had to be rodded because of washing powder residue - I never knew! Obviously a potential B&B hazard though. I switched to liquid detergent.
I am so sorry! I forgot to even answer this; I keep mine in the laundry area, in the cupboard under the sink.
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What is a gulley in this sense and how does one rod it?
at a guess, it’s what I’d call the sewerage pipe that runs from the house out into the main communal pipe in the street. We have manhole covers outside that can be lifted up to rod the drain/sewer when they get blocked, usually by calling out “Dyno Rod”, unless you know some one with their own rods. These are extendable rods with stiff brushes on the end to push through any blockages. We had such a bad one last year (face wipes…) that Dyno Rod had to use a Karcher pressure washer to clear it out into the mains. Fascinatingly vile!
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Really? As an American I can tell you I understand that a plunger can be used for a toilet as well as a French Press and do not giggle like a school girl when someone uses the word.
Maybe the issue here is not the plumbing but low flow toilets that can’t handle wads of TP and people who aren’t familiar such a toilet.
Low-flow Toilets were invented to help solve water use concerns in the 1990s. These toilets are designed to use significantly less water per flush than older toilets do. The problem is, while low-flows work great for saving you money and water, the early designs aren’t so great at reliably flushing.
When low-flow toilets were first being produced, some manufacturers overcame the problem of designing a toilet that would meet the federal government’s strict regulations on water use by reducing the volume of water that discharged from the tank to flush the toilet. The design works, but also produces a much weaker flush. A weaker flush means that your toilet isn’t as effective at moving waste, which in turn means waste accumulates in your pipes faster. The result can be frequent clogging.
The good news is, this is a pretty easy problem to fix. The bad news is, it’s a pretty big fix. The best way to prevent future clogs when you have an older low-flow toilet is simply to replace it. Newer models of low-flow toilets have solved the flushing problem while still using significantly less water than you would be otherwise, so you won’t have to worry about buying a new toilet and getting higher water bills alongside. Installing a new low-flow toilet is good for the longevity of your plumbing and will help prevent consistent clogs.
In other news:
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Oh my. That’s never happened here. I guess the US equivalent of Dyno Rod would be Roto-Rooter.
I have toilets that I think are called dual flow (??)
It has two buttons for flushing. One for solid waste and one for liquid.
They only clog a couple of times a year, but who knows what will happen with guests here, hence the plunger question.
I think part of the issue might be super hard water. I’ve been doing a little research and apparently you can put muriatic acid (for pools) in toilets to help clear away mineral deposits and flush better.
Not sure if I dare
Dyno Rod sand Roto Rooters aside, imagine you are staying in someone’s home or a rental. For whatever reason, possibly not your own fault, the loo starts to overflow. You have used the loo ‘extensively’ and now the ‘fruits’ of your travails are overflowing the bowl and onto the host’s pristine floor.
Do you want to a) leave the mess (for others to accidentally see?) and run to your host (or to telephone your host) to yell that you need a plunger? Or b) calmly reach for the plunger handily and thoughtfully placed nearby the loo, thus avoiding all embarrassment.
Exactly. For the sake of the comfort and peace of mind of your guests, have a plunger somewhere nearby. Even if it’s used only once in ten years.
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I have a plunger in the airbnb room in the closet. If a guest asks I can direct them to it.
I’ve had to have a plumber out for my brand new bathroom twice in less than two years. The first time was luckily the first time the room was used overnight. My nephew was staying and let me know of the problem. I called the contractor and he paid for the Roto Rooter man to come out. The second time the plumber explained to me how a lack of water pressure can contribute to inadequate flushing. He put a new mechanism on the inside of the toilet tank and that fixed the flushing as well as the occasional running of the water that was needing the handle to be jiggled. In my part of the house I have 1.6 gal flush but it has a pressurized tank so even though it’s low water it flushes with a great deal of force. Still, I’ve had to have a plumber out once in 20 years for one of those. I’ve never put anything in the toilets that didn’t belong there and it has nothing to do with faulty pipes per se. They might not be as efficient as foreign plumbing though.
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Whoa, all there is to know about plungers and your Airbnb.
I have two. Kept in the utility room so either I or my guest can go grab one if the need arises
One is a sink plunger and one is a toilet plunger.
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And more.
I was going to add the story about how I bailed out my own toilet with a small bucket and dumped the contents into the other toilet, which was working fine.
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When the guest put a non flushable item in the Saniflo I had to bail and take it down the stairs to the working toilet. I bailed with a mug and a wet vacuum which had to be cleaned thoroughly afterwards. If the engineer can get straight on with the job it halves the bill.
That particular incident I was able to get things moving again without calling a professional but that’s good to know for future reference.
The Saniflo gets its pump and mincer damaged by objects. In this case it was a tampon. Funnily enough there was a feature on radio 4s Woman’s Hour today about damage caused by flushing the unflushables.
Joan is right. I live in a Victorian terrace and the manhole cover is every other house. My garden just has a 6" square access which you can get water rods down. With the powder detergent incident, the Dynorod chap cleared it in 5 minutes. It’s covered on my house insurance because I pay extra for emergencies. Worth its weight in gold to have 24/7 cover 365 days a year.
Any high strength toilet limescale cleaner will work.
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I am laughing so hard I’m crying. Crying for my old-ass American pipes. My plumbing is clay, root filled and runs up hill. Thanks for the good belly-laugh Jess, I needed that today!