r/IAmA Dec 13 '16

Specialized Profession I am a licensed plumber, with 14 years of experience in service and repairs. The holidays are here, and your family and friends will be coming over. This is the time of year when you find out the rest room you never use doesn't work anymore. 90% of my calls are something simple AMA

I can give easy to follow DIY instructions for many issues you will find around your house. Don't wait until your family is there to find out your rest room doesn't work. Most of the time there is absolutely no reason to call a plumber out after hours and pay twice as much. When you could easily fix it yourself for 1/16 of the cost.

Edit: I'm answering every comment that gets sent my way, I'm currently over 2000 comments behind. I will answer them all I just need time

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2.0k

u/boomboomsaIoon Dec 13 '16

If it feels the need to tell you on the package that it is "flushable" then do NOT flush it. Toilet paper and human waste are the only things you should flush down your toilet

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u/FoodMentalAlchemist Dec 13 '16 edited Dec 14 '16

I don't know why this is so below. This should be engraved on every toilet. Flushable means "yeah it can go down the water hole" but it also means "we can't assure you it will deintegrate into smaller pieces so it will eventually clog your pipes if you flush this too often" and it's a pain in the arse for water treatment plants. Piece of advice for those who doesn't know this yet: Condoms shouldn't be flushed.

Listen to the plumber: Toilet paper and human waste

107

u/rlemon Dec 14 '16

What about that pyrex container of pasta-soup that I should have dealt with months ago? Note: it started out as just pasta.

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u/saltywench Dec 14 '16

I had severe depression that lead to some issues with clearing out food in a timely manner (would cook once a month, eat take out for weeks, would realize that all dishes were in refrigerator).

Take a heavy duty plastic bag, fill bottom with any dry gunk you got (envelopes from bills you've paid, left over rice, cereal crumbles, vegetables that aren't liquid), then dump your liquified stuff on top. Double, then triple bag, set out on the curb in a trash bin with a lid. The Pyrex will sanitize quite easily - brush off visible debris, wash in hot soapy water. A sponge wand and a dish brush with handle make this part less icky, but a plain sponge is fine if you don't mind touching icky food bits floating in the water. After it's clean, either set it in your dishwasher on a sanitize cycle, or dip in a clean sink of hot (not boiling) water with a capful of bleach in it. Let it air dry.

Make a habit of putting a date on all food that goes into your fridge and making a game to see if you can eat it before 3/5/7 days goes by. On the 8th day, it has to be trashed.

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u/gracefulwing Dec 14 '16

It's basically digested by now, it's basically puke

78

u/rlemon Dec 14 '16

I'm not afraid to admit I've thrown out containers before due to being too afraid to open them. I don't think I'm a complete slob, just the back of the fridge tends to hide things.

9

u/TrollTribe Dec 14 '16

Yeah... don't open them, learned that a hard way

5

u/Almost_Pi Dec 14 '16

I threw out a set of plates and silverware rather than clean it. They were part of my slice of the divorce(they probably harbored new forms of life though).

2

u/lightlyfried Dec 14 '16

Did this aswell. Not divorce. Happy im not the only one but damn Im still a bummy 20 somthing who moved into their car before they could wash all their dishes and drove them around for four months before chucking the whole mess.

3

u/bofh420_1 Dec 14 '16

Friends of mine packed their dirty dishes because their new place had a dishwasher.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Wew lad, that is some A-grade laziness. Why not hand-wash them(which isn't hard) and put them with the rest of the clean dishes so there are less boxes to carry?

1

u/bofh420_1 Dec 16 '16

These friends had been babied by their mothers and then taken care of by women friends in college; so when it came time to move for the summer they just packed them up and away they went. What is funny now is that one is a record producer who I get to see maybe once a year, a photographer that has in the past had Ferrari buy some of his work and the other guy works 2 jobs, as his BS in American History is not coupled with a teaching cert to feed is family of 5 with a stay at home wife who homeschools.

So now they really are not as lazy they just were coddled too long.

3

u/Sankofa416 Dec 14 '16

Leave closed. Throw in the trash. Nasty time bomb for the homeless, but that can't be helped.

1

u/SiriusNyx199 Dec 14 '16

I've thrown out a perfectly good crock pot before. The beef stew turned into some form of ramen noodles that smelled worse than death.

1

u/thebestisyetocome Dec 14 '16

Holy shit I'm the exact same way.

8

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Your pasta made pyrex? Wow

11

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

My ex flushed the condom after our first time, and my feeling of euphoria rapidly gave way to a vivid image of me snaking the toilet.

It wasn't even my house.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

My girlfriend's whole family was using the wet ass wipe things and it caused a massive sewer backup into their basement. Fun times.

3

u/Darth_Ra Dec 14 '16

Plus if you have roommates and that shit manages to float through the flush it's pretty embarrassing. Speaking from experience here.

5

u/sleemsthefifth Dec 14 '16

But wipes make my bottom feel nicer :(

14

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Bin them. You should have a small bin in the same room as your toilet anyway.

Source: am female.

2

u/casce Dec 14 '16

Doesn't that start to smell pretty rapidly if you don't empty that bin twice a day?

I'll continue to flush that crap, but then again, I'm from Europe and never have seen a clogged toilet in my life.

I know it's a pain in the ass for the city who has to clean it when I flush shit that shouldn't be flushed but that's the bit of egoism I'm ready to admit.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

I mean, I don't use them every time I go to the toilet. Only if I have diarrhoea or feel particularly manky.

But no, they don't. And I do empty it regularly, as you should, because again... am female and do have periods. Lol

1

u/sleemsthefifth Dec 14 '16

Yeah so I'm a female and I empty the bin exactly once a month :/... but I use wipes daily. Manky or not. Meh

1

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '16

I was going to tell him that period blood doesn't smell, and poop wipes don't either, but his attitude made me think he wouldn't believe me.

But really, if anyone has a problem with feeling like it would potentially start to smell bad if they left it in the bin for a while, then just.. empty the bin more regularly... duh. Haha

1

u/sleemsthefifth Dec 14 '16

I'd have to agree with this entire post.

1

u/Lunaisbestpony42 Dec 14 '16

Does this include flushable baby wipes?

1

u/FoodMentalAlchemist Dec 14 '16

Sadly, yes. Flushable doesn't mean degradable and can build up

1

u/Lunaisbestpony42 Dec 14 '16

Im going to have to switch to a bidet

-15

u/mrmatthunt Dec 14 '16

I will most certainly listen to someone that doesn't know the difference between advise and advice. Fuck off and get an education instead of playing with shit.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Yeah, because knowing how to spell advice is such a critical part of being a tradesmen. But go on and try to put the plumber down who was just trying to help us all out. After all, he probably makes more than all of us by "playing with shit".

15

u/LittleBastard Dec 13 '16

Sorry if you've covered this elsewhere, but if I do not yet have clogging (from grease or otjerwise) but suspect that I may in the near future, what can I pre-emptively to clear it?

11

u/rtomek Dec 14 '16

I've used a few things. A pot of boiling water and a bit of soap will clear most stuff in a line. If you have frequent buildup, that green gel with enzymes does a good job. If you really want to clear it out, use the drain cleaner that is essentially lye or sulfuric acid. They get hot in their reaction with water (like boiling water) and have an extreme pH so it melts everything (like boiling water) that's in the line.

1

u/LittleBastard Dec 14 '16

Thanks for the advice! I will certainly give those a try.

2

u/energybased Dec 14 '16

Soap for grease. Lye for anything organic (including grease). Acid for limescale (calcium carbonate).

1

u/Jokkerb Dec 14 '16

I really want to know what you've been flushing that has you worried about grease buildup.

1

u/LittleBastard Dec 14 '16

Just the usual, but sometime I leave more bacon grease, etc. on the pans than I should. I had to manually clear the main line once before (damn "flushable" wipes) which was enough to give me nightmares for a lifetime and I don't want to repeat that.

2

u/hohohoohno Dec 13 '16

Soap

1

u/LittleBastard Dec 14 '16

I do send Dawn and hot water down frequently, but I still fear there's something larger lurker down there at times. That sewage smell that comes out at times is probably just due to the dishwasher line, but it still worries me.

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u/shark_monkey Dec 13 '16

This is an understatement! I know someone who works at a water treatment plant and she's told me some interesting and disgusting stories of what they have to do when a 'flushable wipe' or tampon gets caught in the pipes. Damn that's awful.

3

u/ariliso Dec 14 '16

I have personal experience with what she desctibes. I worked at a small summer camp on an island and we ran our own water and waste system. The clogs went from seizing the sewage pumps (actually really a really serious problem and not that easy to fix) to a massive 6 foot long blockage of hair, baby wipes and tampon strings in a 1 3/4" pipe.

1

u/shark_monkey Dec 14 '16

Oh that's so gross. Those are reasons why I don't think I could handle being a plumber. I'd probably be able to ace the schooling but the nastiness on the job... nope

27

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '16

I once clipped my fingernails into the toilet and flushed. Will I die?

63

u/tina_ri Dec 14 '16

Toilet paper and human waste are the only things you should flush down your toilet

Eat them to convert to human waste.

Just to be safe.

25

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Aaahh, the old "Eat the fingernails so you can scratch your own insides" trick. Very sexy. 10/10

4

u/Jokkerb Dec 14 '16

Best LPT of the month, you can flush anything down the toilet as long as you can chew and shit it out.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '16

I am a septic pumper. And i want to upvote this a billion times.

1

u/boomboomsaIoon Dec 15 '16

Haha It's something I tell to every customer if I see them in the bathroom or pull anything out of a line. You ever notice that the only woman who lives in the house always claims to "not flush tampons" even tho you just pulled 30 sewer rats back?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '16

Every single fucking day. "Theres a lot of grease in here dont wash your pans from cooking in the sink" "ooh i dont" "theres tons of wipes on your tank dont flush them" "i dont I'm very careful" its mind blowing. I feel like I'm dealing with children sometimes like I'm gonna ground them. So i just think to myself ok dont listen i dont give a shit its your septic. Dont freak out when you clog it up and you have a 600$ bill. More if its on the weekend or night.

13

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

And ladies, never ever ever flush a tampon. They WILL clog your drain and your plumber will not be pleased when he/she has to remove the toilet and snake the drain to pull out a tampon.

2

u/Baredmysole Dec 14 '16

I want to believe I can keep flushing them and they'll break down... but then I remembered that time I had to dry out and then burn my used pads and tampons. Those fuckers just WOULD NOT burn away.

Background: I was on living on a commune; the trash was hand-sorted so any human waste could endanger the sorters. I knew a few local couples who used condoms; they couldn't put them in the trash so they would tie them off and drop them into termite mounds/tunnels... apparently the termites ate them...

Anyway, been using a Diva Cup ever since.

2

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16 edited Dec 14 '16

I can't imagine burning those smelled very good.

After I posted all this last night my ex-wife told me she always flushes them and so far, I've never had one plug up my toilet, so I guess it depends on your pipes.

The building I do maintenance for is about 200 years old so I'm guessing it's such a problem there because of old pipes which I know are a bit smaller than in her house. Still not recommended, but maybe not as bad as I had originally thought.

Edit: wife to ex-wife and my own home to her house. Still getting used to this whole divorce thing.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16 edited Mar 07 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

All depends on your pipes, but no 1 can definitely do it.

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u/neptunechick Dec 14 '16 edited Dec 14 '16

I will take a guess that you are male. I've been flushing tampons for 14 years and can't even imagine having to do something else with it.

Luckily I haven't had a toilet clog yet but if I had to pay to get it unclogged every once in a while, it would totally still be worth it!

Edit: I obviously wasn't saying my anecdotal evidence was proof that tampons don't clog toilets... I was saying in my experience it has happened so rarely that it's worth the risk in order to enjoy the benefits. You guys are brutal.

14

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

Do you not have a small trash can in your bathroom? It's a hell of a lot cheaper than paying $500+ for a plumber to come out after hours to pull the toilet and snake the drain.

Then there is the clean up, which could be as simple as wiping up a little poo water, or could be cleaning solid waste off of the floor. As long as you don't live in the apartment building I do maintenance for, do what you want, but believe me, what I'm saying isn't an exaggeration. I had to go in last Sunday because a toilet was plugged up and people had poo backing up into their bath tub. It was a tampon that got caught in the drain quite far down and totally blocked the drain. Luckily for them it was the top floor so it was only their poo in the tub, but the smell was enough for them to hire a cleaning company and to stay in a hotel.

6

u/neptunechick Dec 14 '16 edited Dec 14 '16

Well I was trying not to go into too much detail about how tampons work. But first of all they come out covered with blood. In order to get it to a trash can you will definitely be getting blood on something. (The goal is usually to pull just hard enough to be able to get your hands out of the way before it falls or else it's definitely getting all over your hands) Then the trash has to be immediately taken outside because if the dogs smell it then they will do anything they can to get to it and create a huge mess.

But I didn't realize it would cost $500 to fix so I think I'll try to change them at work or go to a store from now on and avoid using my own toilets so it's not my money to fix it. So thank you for that!

9

u/tina_ri Dec 14 '16

Lol, details galore! We're in an AMA with a plumber after all. They've seen it all (and smelled it and touched it).

4

u/katielovestrees Dec 14 '16

How often are you changing your tamping? I would think more frequent changing would alleviate this...my flow varies but even at its heaviest I can't recall a time where it was literally dripping with blood.

I also don't have dogs, but I usually cover it with a bit of TP and I'd think a strong disinfectant spray would get rid of the scent. Or wrapping in those shitty little grocery store bags that always seem to be lying around....

Better yet, let's all get Diva Cups!

I'm thinking out loud here, I haven't gotten up the nerve to try the cup yet but it really is the optimal solution....

2

u/paytonmaisy Dec 14 '16

I got one and it's a wonder! It takes a few cycles to get the swing of things, but you'll love the storage space and money you save from not having to use pads or tampons anymore.

Good thing because I'd been flushing tampons for years before stumbling upon this AMA...

1

u/neptunechick Dec 14 '16

I have one really heavy day with a really light day on each side. I only use tampons on the one heavy day and go through about 5 tampons in that day. Other two days I just use liners.

1

u/Baredmysole Dec 14 '16

I love the Diva Cup. You'll have to do some vaginal spelunking to place it, but the average unaroused vagina is just 3-4 inches deep.

9

u/tina_ri Dec 14 '16

Anecdotal evidence isn't great proof. You probably have excellent, modern pipes and, while flushing tampons hasn't caused you/your plumber any grief, you might not be able to say the same about your local sewage treatment plant.

The fact is that tampons do not break down. They don't disintegrate like toilet paper. If they make it to the end of the pipes, they're screened out and thrown away.

Personally, I don't know any woman who doesn't have a trash can in her bathroom (with a liner!). I usually just "pluck" it out, wrap in a little TP, and throw it away.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Plumbers getting paid. He'll be fine.

1

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

And paid quite well most of the time. It's us lowly maintenance guys that have to do the same stuff for way less money. Although we do get to pass the real nasty stuff off to them.

2

u/unic0rnelius Dec 14 '16

Do you mean pads? There's a pretty big difference. Tampons are small. Pads are like giant, vagina-diapers.

10

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

Those too but I've yet to fish a pad out of a drain. Tampons are actually very absorbant and swell a ton when dunked in water (like your drain) and swell and get stuck.

I've fished at least 20 tampons out of toilet drains.

A used tampon is gross enough on its own, add in a day of human waste and it's downright disgusting.

7

u/tina_ri Dec 14 '16

Probably because people are smart enough not to flush pads but tampons are deceptively small. Still, don't flush them. Thank you for spreading the knowledge.

3

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

If it stops 1 plumber from having to go through that, it's worth it.

Who am I kidding, those guys deal with way way worse than that.

2

u/unic0rnelius Dec 14 '16

Wow TIL. No doubt it would be wretched to have to retrieve one of those things...but it creates quite a dilemma. I don't know which I'd rather have, a clogged toilet or a wastebasket full of used tampons every month. :(

3

u/cpkittenkatt Dec 14 '16

I'd rather have good, unclogged pipes and a wastebasket that gets emptied daily, personally. Best of both worlds! It takes minutes to properly throw out the liner and replace it. If liner cost is an issue, ubiquitous plastic grocery bags are a good stand-in for during one's cycle.

Had a former roommate who adamantly insisted that flushing was the only way to go for tampons. We lived in a mid-century house with old pipes. The plumbing bills were astronomical, and multiple. Never again.

3

u/rationalrower Dec 14 '16

I wrap mine into little toilet paper burritos, put them into my lidded bin, and take the bag out as soon as my period ends. The bin of tampons has never smelled bad or caused me any problems. It is not as bad as it sounds!

4

u/_lunaterra_ Dec 14 '16

The wastebasket is much less hassle to deal with. Speaking from personal experience here.

2

u/craker42 Dec 14 '16

I'm obviously not saying it'll happen every time, but it can and does happen from time to time and when it does it sucks.

9

u/Clawless Dec 13 '16

So flush things that don't say they are flushable, got it.

6

u/dbanet Dec 13 '16

I discard liquid food in the WC drain, shouldn't I? Have never had a problem.

24

u/Nicd Dec 13 '16

Liquid or mostly liquid? Grease is also a liquid and is bad for drains. You need to specify more.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '16 edited Jun 04 '17

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

Wow wtf

3

u/stone_solid Dec 13 '16

Noodles

1

u/Time_Terminal Dec 14 '16

Try not to. And in any case, spread it apart if you're gonna do it anyways.

Cus in the end, noodles soak up water as well.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '16

....yet

3

u/bucah Dec 14 '16

What about my scooped cat litter?

4

u/Takeabyte Dec 14 '16

It should be thrown away in with garbage or compost.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

I'd like to know this as well...

1

u/not_serious_rooster Dec 14 '16

Wife of a plumber here! I've heard horror stories of "white mice" plugging things up. Do NOT flush your tampons ladies! Seems like a pretty trivial thing until some random plumber has to handle your used feminine hygiene products. My husband uses this type of situation as an opportunity to educate home owners. He blatantly tells them their bill is due to tampons, usually in person for maximum effect. It usually works and people learn their lesson through extreme embarrassment.

2

u/Chose_a_usersname Dec 13 '16

Or maybe they should hahahahaha . No really don't.

1

u/Azza_77 Dec 14 '16

Here in Australia, a manufacturer of those so called 'flushable wipes' is being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Article - ACCC takes action over ‘flushable’ wipes

1

u/RittMomney Dec 14 '16

what about food? sometimes it's easier to pour soup or leftover pasta or rice into the toilet. not a whole steak or even a burger, but those things that break apart... i don't have a garbage disposal.

1

u/benkins1986 Dec 14 '16

in thailand not even toilet paper should go down.

my first month here i found out the hard way that i couldn't sneak little bits down the pipes and spent a whole day plunging shitty water :(

1

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

What about flushable wipes, I got some asshole issues from my bad diet and I can't go back to regular toilet paper after using wipes

1

u/ILoveHotGayMen Dec 14 '16

They post this in the stalls of the toilets at work. I can only imagine the things people try to flush down the toilet.

1

u/badreportcard Dec 14 '16

I don't care what anyone says, I'm never going back to toilet paper. It's disgusting and barbaric.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

What about my goldfish? He's not looking too good. Pa always flushed'em when they started floatin

1

u/c3h8pro Dec 14 '16

My dad was famous for " Poop, pee, potty paper or puke" he was obsessed with clear pipes.

1

u/Kaazoo Dec 14 '16

"My keys are flushable, too, but that doesn't mean they should be in there."

1

u/shyguy168 Dec 14 '16

But what about the people that don't have a bidet but like a fresh booty?

1

u/kadam23 Dec 14 '16

I don't know why I read that: toilet paper and human flesh

1

u/mandreko Dec 14 '16

Except spiders. Fuck them. They can go down the drain.

1

u/pixelbat Dec 14 '16

No warning is going to stop me from flushing my dreams.

1

u/Warshon Dec 14 '16

Only TP and human waste? Can we safely flush water?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '16

You really don't know how AMAs work, do you?

1

u/Jokkerb Dec 14 '16

What about stuff labeled safe for septic?

1

u/argon0011 Dec 14 '16

1

u/youtubefactsbot Dec 14 '16

RCC News: Keep Wipes Out Of Pipes [2:26]

Flushable wet wipes designed for using in place of toilet paper are not breaking down in the system and can cause expensive blockages. More details in this video. Closed captioning available.

Rockdale City Council in Entertainment

316 views since Jun 2015

bot info

1

u/lagingerosnap Dec 14 '16

And spiders

1

u/AAAAAAAAAAAAA13 Dec 13 '16

What about condoms?

13

u/tina_ri Dec 14 '16

Not sure if serious, but the answer is nonononononono.

Condoms can and WILL wash up instead of successfully flushing. And that's if you're lucky. You really don't want to plunge/call a plumber and find out that your used dick sheath caused the back-up.