Plungers

So it turns out that I did not know how to operate a plunger. I know. Crazy.

On Thursday, one of our toilets became a bit backed up, and so I took the plunger after it. It became a slow-drain problem and I noticed that the plunger I was using didn't really fit over the hole at the bottom because of the ovalness of the hole.

So I went to the Mart and got a black plunger with this pull-out thing on the bottom. That fit in there better but I could not make any progress on moving the stuck stuff from the spot it was stuck in.

Back to the Mart and I get some "Liquid Lightning" which is actually a bunch of sulfuric acid and I pour it into the pot as directed- 2oz first, waited a bit, poured in the rest. Then The Son tells me that he put some "stuff" in there to try and unclog it-- after I've read this whole label about how dangerous mixing chemicals is and how just adding hot water to sulfuric acid will cause a "VIOLENT REACTION" so I flush the $12 worth of juice right on down- it's still slow draining at this point. I flush a few more times over the next hour and let it drain down and then I'm pretty sure I've got all the chemicals out, so I go back to the Mart and get another bottle of $12 juice. 2oz in, wait a bit, pour in the rest, wait "at least 20 minutes, but not more than 20 minutes" as instructed by the label (It Is A Felony To Use The Product In A Manner Inconsistent With Its Labeling, you know...) and I push the lever down. Bowl fills. I wait a beat, flush again. Bowl fills more- this time right up to the bottom of the inside rim. Another flush and it's going over, and this water is BROWN.

I decide to wait it out- an hour or so and it should be down some, right? 18 hours later it hasn't moved a bit. I plunge some more (I can't add any more chemicals now because I've got 32oz of sulfuric acid in there now!) and wait and plunge and wait.

I'm about read to go back to the Mart and get a snake (can't find ours anywhere) when I decide to see if there are any tricks I can use to get this thing unclogged. Google gives me a great article on how to unclog a toilet, which had three important things, only one of which I had learned:

1. Don't use the cheap round rubber plungers. They don't work. (I figured this one out my own self)
   
2. Plunge with water in the plunger, not air. (I had been trying to make sure it always had air in it. I don't know why. Somehow I imagined pushing air would be stronger, even though that really doesn't make sense)
   
3. Plunge out, then in, repeating the back and forth of WATER (NOT AIR) to work the clog out.
   

So I grab my black plunger and go to work. It took about 40 seconds to clear it out, and another 10 minutes to clean up the mess and mop the bathroom out.

I can rest in the knowledge that I only wasted $24 on chemicals I didn't need, instead of $95 for a plumber I didn't need. (the last time he came out to fix a leak I couldn't figure out how to fix, he just tightened a thing I hadn't noticed on the opposite side of the thing I knew was leaking. 50 seconds and $95 later the leak is no more.)

I probably should own a snake (we used to, but can't find it since the move) but I'm going to hold out until the plunger doesn't cut it.

Are you certified to operate that plunger!?