# If the toilet must pick a time to overfow... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240 "2007-01-31T05:40:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/1 "2007-01-31T05:40:19Z")
…it might as well be right after I cleaned it, while flushing paper towels used to clean other parts of the bathroom (apparently, flushing paper towels is a bad idea). Because, since I flushed it several times while cleaning it, and for the first load of paper towels, any biological products were at LEAST three flushes away. Still a pain in the butt, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/2 "2007-01-31T11:24:56Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] …it might as well be right after I cleaned it, while flushing paper towels used to clean other parts of the bathroom (apparently, flushing paper towels is a bad idea). [/QUOTE] :eek: Yes, flushing nearly anything other than your own waste and toilet paper is a very bad idea. Among other things, those “flushable” wipes might not be good for your plumbing at all depending on how they’re made, and tampons definitely are not wise to flush. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/3 "2007-01-31T14:43:32Z")
Oh, well, as you say, at least it was CLEAN water that overflowed. That’s a fairly painless way to learn that lesson. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/4 "2007-01-31T14:45:56Z")
You put paper towels down and expect it not clog??? Don’t you watch the ads about the “wet strength” of those things. Even kleenex won’t dissolve. Try it. Now try toilet paper. When wet it falls apart. Not an accident. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/5 "2007-01-31T17:57:52Z")
Oh, man. Sorry to hear about your toilet troubles. I remember the issues you had with that thing when you first got it. I take it that some work with a plunger has resolved the issue by now. At least, I hope that’s the case. Best of luck in your future plumbing endeavors. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/6 "2007-01-31T18:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] :eek: Yes, flushing nearly anything other than your own waste and toilet paper is a very bad idea. [/QUOTE] We have found out the hard way that with low-flow toilets it’s sometimes a good idea to send the waste and the toilet paper down in separate trips. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/7 "2007-01-31T18:29:04Z")
Say, umm, not that I’m a plumber, but don’t flushed paper towels clog up that tank-like recepticle under the floor of your basement that connects to the street sewer by pipe? If you clog that too much & flush, won’t it pop the gasket/seal on the pipe and start filling your basement with ‘unexpected presents’ you thought you’d never see again…? ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/8 "2007-01-31T18:33:33Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] Say, umm, not that I’m a plumber, but don’t flushed paper towels clog up that tank-like recepticle under the floor of your basement that connects to the street sewer by pipe? If you clog that too much & flush, won’t it pop the gasket/seal on the pipe and start filling your basement with ‘unexpected presents’ you thought you’d never see again…? [/QUOTE] Shhh! You’re ruining the surprise. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/9 "2007-01-31T18:59:40Z")
[QUOTE=Motorgirl] We have found out the hard way that with low-flow toilets it’s sometimes a good idea to send the waste and the toilet paper down in separate trips. [/QUOTE] I have to do that here at work. Sometimes even that’s not enough. I hate the plumbing here. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/10 "2007-01-31T19:14:06Z")
Actually I have a very powerful kickass toilet made by the Toto corporation that I can not recommend highly enough. I learned two things from this experience: (1) Don’t flush paper towels, at least not multiple consecutive loads of paper towels (the first one was handled fine) (2) Get a real plunger. Then you won’t have to play a plumber to come out, look contemptuously at your weenie little plunger, get a real plunger from his truck, and fix your problem in 15 seconds ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/11 "2007-01-31T19:48:44Z")
So what’s a real plunger look like? Is it the reddish orange D-cup on a stick or something more ominous? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/12 "2007-01-31T20:43:31Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] So what’s a real plunger look like? Is it the reddish orange D-cup on a stick or something more ominous? [/QUOTE] [Might look like this.](http://www.tk409.com/images/plunger.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/13 "2007-01-31T20:50:17Z")
Good grief… wasn’t William Wallace swinging that in _Braveheart_? ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/14 "2007-01-31T22:11:31Z")
That is the uber-plunger, my friends! I have to use that because I have the awful combination of low-flush toilet and a 6 year old daughter who thinks every bathroom trip requires almost half a roll of TP. I hear that panicked cry of, “Daddy!!! It’s doing it again!!!” and I know I have to come to the rescue once more. At my old house I had a pressure assist toilet. Used the same amount of water per fluch but kept it under pressure, sort of like a pumped up Super Soaker. Every time you flushed it sounded like a jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. I forgot to tell my son what the toilet did and the first time he used it, it scared the crap out of him literally. Fortunately, he was still sitting down when he flushed. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/15 "2007-01-31T22:48:52Z")
Wikipedia knows [all](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plunger). I was using a sink plunger when I needed a toilet plunger. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-toilet-must-pick-a-time-to-overfow/390240/16 "2007-01-31T22:57:08Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] [Might look like this.](http://www.tk409.com/images/plunger.jpg) [/QUOTE] My experience with those is that they’re crap…I mean they suck…dangit, they just don’t work. And the accordion section gets full of poo and is no fun to rinse out. Use the black rubber one as shown in MaxTheVool’s link, they work great. My traditional housewarming gift is a beautifully wrapped and beribboned toilet plunger. Everybody laughs until they realize that it’s something that: a. Will be needed. b. Will be needed at the worst possible time. c. When it is needed, it is needed immediately. No time for a trip to the store.