Plunger Reviews - Sinks and Toilets

Unclogging Drains 101 breaks it down, comparing available plungers for you.

Get the plunger most suited for your task!

 

Plunger Reviews at UncloggingDrains101.com

How to use a Closet Auger

How To Use a Closet Auger

Learn to clear clogs using a toilet snake

The most stubborn clogged toilets will sometimes not be cleared even by lengthy softening and vigorous plunging. In these situations, the next step is to use a tool called a handheld closet auger. The term closet comes from the old euphemism for bathrooms, water closet, and refers to the fact that the auger is specifically designed for use on toilets and commodes. Augers are also the tool to use when attempting to clear any clog that is not soft or decomposable in nature, such as a toy or toiletry.

How to Use a Closet Auger

Learn to Clear Clogs Using a Toilet Snake

The geniuses over at uncloggingdrains101.com have done it again with an in depth article on how to use a closet auger, otherwise known as a toilet snake.

Closet augers are easy to use and inexpensive, possibly saving hundreds of dollars on the first avoided service call from a professional.

The article discusses differences in drain augers, safety concerns, and proper technique. Also included are instructional  diagrams and informative How-To videos.

The most stubborn clogged toilets will sometimes not be cleared even by lengthy softening and vigorous plunging. In these situations, the next step is to use a tool called a handheld closet auger. The tem closet comes from the old euphemism for bathrooms, water closet, and refers to the fact that the auger is specifically designed for use on toilets and commodes. Augers are also the tool to use when attempting to clear any clog that is not soft or decomposable in nature, such as a toy or toiletry.

Plunger Use Hints and Tips

Using Plungers for Success

Pick up hints & tips for proper plunging technique

Forming Airtight Seals

Plungers work in both directions. They move water back and forth inside the pipes, breaking up the blocking material into smaller bits until the clog can no longer hold itself together.
To do this, an airtight seal must be formed where the plunger meets the plumbing. Any leaks will mean at best an ineffective & noisy plunging and at worst a squirt of sewage back towards the user.
Maintaining this seal while the plunger is worked up and down, for as many as a dozen strokes or for as long as thirty seconds, is the most important consideration, and is why there are so many differently shaped plungers on the market. Hopefully you have the right plunger for your drain. If you don’t maybe you can still make it work.

• Some bell and bellows-plungers are reversible, and suited for both sink and toilets
• Surround drains in floors and wide basins with a twisted wet towel when using a ball-plunger
• A small amount of petroleum jelly around the lip of the plunger or around the drain can help seal tiny but troublesome cracks
• Hold stiff rubber or plastic plungers under running hot water to free them up for easier plunging

Blocking Overflow Drains

Airtight seals cannot be formed if there are other outlets for air or water in the pipes surrounding the clog. Bathroom sinks and bathtubs will have one or more overflow drains, for example. These are drains, often hidden inside a lip of the sink or behind a metal plate with the stopper lever on a tub, which catch any overflow from the sink or tub. They connect directly to the same drain as the bottom of the sink or tub, so if you try to force water through the drain, it can come back up and out the overflow. The most common method for blocking these overflows so you can use a plunger is to stuff a wet rag or washcloth into them, so they are tightly blocked. Use a large enough cloth that it will not be in danger of falling or being sucked into the drain. You may find you need to hold these cloths in place, perhaps with a third hand.

Know Your Household Drains

Home Drain Encyclopedia

Drains in the bathroom, kitchen, laundry, and garage each can get clogged in their own charming ways.

It often goes unconsidered until a problem arises just how many different drains there are in the home, and how dependent we are on them all functioning properly. Whether you’ve put up with a slow shower drain for long enough, or are here on more pressing matters, you’ll find help here to get things back in order.

Finding the Help You Need

It does not take long for a clogged toilet to become the top priority around the house. Other drains such as those in basement floors may only be needed once in a while, but when the time comes, they had better work. Maintenance, repair, and the cleaning and clearing of drains is an uncomplicated and unglamorous topic. The well prepared homeowner will have plungers and augers for toilets and sinks in the house, and so be prepared for just about any eventuality.

Using Sink and Toilet Plungers

Learn to Successfully Use Plungers On Each Type of Household Drain

The red rubber suction cup plunger is still as popular as ever, because when used correctly, even this old design can work wonders. But for even better chances of success, match your plunger purchase to the drain it will be clearing. The old standby with its wide flat face can be difficult to work with on curved drains such as those in toilets and lavatory basins.
Fortunately, the enormous variety of plunger shapes available means there is one for every type of drain in the home.

Plungers will be split into two broad categories. There are plungers designed for use with toilets, and plungers intended for use with sink and floor drains.

Toilet plungers will not have the traditional wide open-faced plungers shape, but instead are shaped to fit the tubular curving shape of a toilet drain. Toilet plungers will have a flange of extra material extending from the bellows which can be inserted snugly into toilet drains.
Plungers intended for use on floor drains and basins with flat bottoms will not have this extra flange of plastic or rubber as part of the plunger shape. These plungers will have wider, open suction cup shapes, in order to enclose the drain opening.
The second major design consideration when purchasing a plunger is the material it is made of. Rubber and softer plastic belled plungers can be easier to use, because the more pliable material will flex in both directions as required when plunging.
Other plungers are made of stiffer plastics. These plungers are frequently one-piece designs. Because they are all one piece of plastic, these designs can be easier to clean than handled plungers. The drawback to stiff plastic plungers is they are much more difficult to use, both in plunging and keeping up an airtight seal.
The final significant difference among the plungers available today is the shape of the plunger compression container. The champagne glass shaped sink plunger is the most familiar, but also very common are what are called ball-plungers. Less common, but seen in more and more of the modern plunger designs, is the spring-plunger, with a bellows shaped chamber.
Ball-plungers will have a ball or spherical shaped compression chamber. Spheres are used because they enclose the greatest volume with the least amount of material, meaning efficient transfer of the plunging action into water movement and clog busting. Ball plungers are typically easy to work, and very effective.
Bellows plungers are the more modern design. Both sink and toilet plungers are available with large bellows chambers, in an assortment of shapes. Spring plungers can be very effective, bring more pressure to bear on the drain per square inch than a standard design. The large bellows chamber can be cumbersome, however, and not always easy to effectively use.
Plungers are tools for unclogging drains blocked with soft, decomposable or degradable material. Do not attempt to plunge a solid object or dense obstruction through your plumbing-you may end up making things worse and footing an expensive repair bill.
Plungers are recommended for clogs such as those that build up over time in slower or infrequently used drains, and for clogs that are created by over-zealous, but proper use of things like the toilet or shower. Clogs from hair, grease, oil, sewage, toilet tissue, and similar stuff can be handled with a plunger.
Do not use a plunger to force things like children's toys, dentures, cosmetics containers, toiletries, and so on through the plumbing. When an object or obstruction that won't break down-for example cloth or paper towels-is the cause of the stopped drain, then other tools and procedures will be used. Consider calling a plumber or professional drain service in this situation.
With so many plungers to choose from, how can you pick just one?
You shouldn't! The fact is that most homes will benefit from owning two plungers; one for use in the toilet and one for use in sinks. Because the design and function of these drains are so different, the types of plungers required for clearing them will be different as well.

By Andam Persand

Andam believes high-quality information will be very valuable in the near future, and creates, edits, updates, and annotates her articles with that in mind. Andam also writes about drain services and cleaning and clearing drains for http://UncloggingDrains101.com as well as writing for her personal blog and other information sites on the internet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andam_Persand

Clogged Drain Prevention

Learn How Maintain Free Flow in Household Plumbing

In the typical home you will encounter a number of different drains, each with their specific use and function. Kitchen sinks for example, will frequently have a garbage disposal attached, and can accept kinds of waste that would not be acceptable in a bathroom--or lavatory--sink. There are types of drains that will be found in every building or home. Knowing their purposes and capabilities will allow for best clog prevention practices, and the quickest clearing of any troubles that do arise.

In the home, kitchen drains are attached to sinks and dishwashers. Restaurants and related businesses will also have floor drains found in kitchens.

 A common thought is that if a sink has a garbage disposal that just anything can be tossed in as long as the disposal is run. This belief has paid the college tuition for many a plumber's kid. The fact is, garbage disposals can grind certain food and waste into particles small enough to flush away, but a disposal drain is just as vulnerable as any other to the most common causes of clogging: fats, oils, greases, and grits. Fatty substances will congeal on the interiors of pipes, and will ignore garbage disposals on the way. Then grit like coffee grounds, egg shells, or disposal residue sticks to the grease, and eventually flow through the pipes is constricted.

To prevent clogs in kitchen drains always dispose of fats and grease by pouring into a can and tossing it in the trash. Pouring grease down the drain is asking for trouble, but if a blockage does develop, there are still many do-it-yourself options available for clearing the clog.

The other common drain in home kitchens carries wastewater away from the dishwashing machine. To prevent clogs in drains from older model dishwashers, scraping and pre-rinsing of dishes is advised. Newer model dishwashers will be attached to the nearby garbage disposal, and will be able to handle larger particles of waste, but plates should still be scraped before placing in the dishwasher.
Laundry drains, shop sink drains, floor drains, pool drains and the like fall in to the category of utility drains. Each of these will have particular expectations about what it can carry away.

To prevent clogs in utility drains, they should always be properly assembled. Cover all open drains with attached strainers to prevent solid objects from falling in. Floor drains should have backflow prevention devices installed in addition to protective straining plates.

Also common in the same area as laundry machines or work sinks are floor drains. These are some of the least used but most important drains in the home. Floor drains generally exist for the purpose of flood prevention--they allow water in the area to drain away. But when floor drains fall into disrepair through damage or neglected upkeep, they may not function properly. When this happens water can not only be prevented from flowing away, but in worst case scenarios can even back up from the sewer into the building, causing flooding and potentially destroying property. For this reason, floor and even patio drains should be equipped with well maintained backflow prevention valves.

No other room has more drains than the bathroom. A typical bathroom will have a lavatory basin drain, a shower or bathtub drain, and perhaps the most important drain in the house, the toilet.

Shower drains must have straining plates in place to prevent objects like bottle caps and soap shards from falling in. Longer hair can also build up and slow the drain over time. Plates will prevent this by catching much of the debris for easy removal.

Tubs and bathroom sinks will have stopper assemblies. Their design will differ, but most work by means of a linked leverage to raise and lower the stopper device. This linkage assembly will serve the purpose of a strainer, and catch quite a bit of debris which will build up over time.

Finally there is the humble workhorse of the head, the commode. Toilets are among the greatest achievements of civilization, and we each depend on their functioning properly. When a toilet fails you can feel as if a friend has let you down. But despair not, because clogged toilets are easily fixed when you own the right tools and know how to use them.

 Indeed, clogged toilets need not be the end of the world, or even the cause of a bad day. 

Most blockages in toilets are easily cleared, with a little advance preparation, sound advice, and proper tools.

Unclogging Bathroom Drains

Learn about commodes, lavatories, showers, & bathtubs

How to deal with bathroom sink clogs, how to clean bathtub drains, and how to clear shower drains.

 There's another great informational set of articles at  uncloggingdrains101.com about all the various drains in the bathroom. Toilets and tubs, showers and sinks, all have their own comprehensive articles!

From the introduction:

No other room in the home has as many different drains and plumbing connections than the bathroom. Each drain will clog in a different way, and will have to be cleared using the proper tools and techniques. Both plungers and drain augers have very different designs for use with toilets or sinks, just as one example.

How to Use a Closet Auger to Clear a Toilet

Learn to clear clogs using a toilet snake

From beginner's basics to the final flush

There is a comprehensive article on how to use a closet auger over at uncloggingdrains101.com. Also known as toilet snakes, these handy home tools can save you a call to the plumber.

Closet augers get their name from the euphemism for bathroom, water closet.

From the article at uncloggingdrains101.com:

…a well designed closet auger will have made several considerations for preventing damage to the toilet. Closet augers typically have longer, telescoping, shafted handles than augers intended for use on sinks and showers. The long handle will curve, j-shaped, at the end where the cable extends for insertion into the drain of the toilet. The shape and length of a closet auger handle allows the plumber or homeowner to work from above without stooping.

Unclogging Toilets Without a Plunger

Clogged toilets can happen to anyone, 

even to people who don’t own a plunger!

Luckily we have the writers at uncloggingdrains101.com to help us out! Learn the three quick steps to clearing a clogged toilet without a plunger.

Learn to unclog a toilet in these three simple steps:

1. Soften Up the Clog with Chemicals
2. Give the Clog Time to Decompose
3. Wash Away the Clog with Hot Water

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Clogged Toilet Solutions

Tips and Tricks for Clogged Toilets

Check out all the handy tips about unclogging toilets at Unclogging Drains 101!

UncloggingDrains101.com is quickly becoming one of the best resources for its topic on the internet. No site compares to Unclogging Drains 101's multiple in depth articles on how to unclog toilets. Here's a quick tip from one article:

the typical clogged toilet resulting from over abundance of bathroom tissue and related materials can frequently be tackled without need of plunger, toilet snake, or plumber. This is because this sort of blockage can be busted up into smaller parts, enough so that it can eventually be flushed away.