Our toilet started overflowing so called in plumber. (amazingly he was not named Joe…)
We have a rubber-type bouncy-ball stuck in the trap of our toilet. It just won’t budge. A 1/4 inch snake can’t get past it. The plumbers vacuum didn’t get it out either.
We have the toilet sitting in our backyard now trying to figure out how to get this ball out. My husband wants to buy some acid and basically melt it away.
Before we do that I have to ask here…any other ideas how to get this ball out of the toilet?
Slather it in something slippery like vegetable oil and try to get it back out the way it went in. My guess is it will easily deform to the shape that lets it pass through (after all, you probably didn’t use much force to get it in there), but rubber-on-porcelain friction is keeping it from sliding while wedged against the curve of the trap.
Do you have a scuba tank, regulator, and air chuck? Wear your safety glasses though because if the ball doesn’t come out it’s going asplode your toilet.
wrap a towell around the end of a garden hose and pack it tightly into the drain side. Turn the water on and the ball should pop right out the way it went in…
Is it accessible enough that you could drill a hole through it? If so, do, then thread a piece of strong cord through the hole, with one end knotted around a nut or other item large enough to anchor the cord in the ball. Pull the cord, hard.
Alternatively, drive a very large coach bolt into it and tie a rope onto that and pull
Or drill the biggest hole you can through the ball, then cut it into pieces (from the centre outwards) with a hacksaw blade .
It is a superball - like for jacks, only I don’t know any kids who play jacks any more.
You can just barely see it, I’m not sure we can get at it enough to drill a hole through it though. I did suggest the vegetable oil idea to not-Joe the plumber didn’t think it would work. I still think it is worth trying.
We just don’t want to have to buy a whole other toilet.
Can’t you just reach in and grab it? God knows I hate jamming my hand down toilets, but you do what you have to do. It’ll probably have to be you, because you need smaller hands. You’d be surprised how far you can get your arm up one of those.
If you have it in the yard, come from the other direction and try to push it out.
If we see a new thread start up titled “Hand stuck in toilet - need help fast!” it’s all your fault
Is the ball stuck meaning jammed so it won’t move around at all, or is it rattling around somewhere? If it moves can you try a variation on the vacuum idea, maybe use a bit of flexible hose and see if you can snag it and suck it out that way? If it’s jammed but you can see it, I like the idea of slicing it up and then flushing the bits out with water - maybe an exacto knife, hot knife or trauma shears? Careful, wear gloves!
