The old play-doh can down the toilet trick!

[bmyers]

Okay. I got a boy, he's 2. He thought it would be really neato to see what happens when you flush a play-doh can down the toilet. While I love his initiative and spirit of experimentation, needless to say this rendered the toilet useless. I'm guessing it didn't go all the way through and is stuck somewhere. It was one of the small cans, not the full size ones, don't know what color it was either but I will someday I'm sure.

I'm hoping that it's stuck in the toilet itself and I can remove it from the floor and chase it backwards and out. "Chase" is a nice word for "sticking my hand in a 20 year old toilet".

If ANYONE has ANYTHING that might fix this another way let me know. I'm hoping there is an easy fix here..

Thanks,
Bill

[Scottydont]

My son did the same thing when he was three with the spring loaded rod from a toilet paper holder. I could not get it out either and eneded up replacing the toilet! Replacing the toilet was easy but not cheap!

[Stick]

One of my daughters flushed a plastic toy trumpet. I had to pull the toilet and snake from the underside, breaking it into a pile of pieces to get it out.

[tfischer]

Haven't seen a Play-doh can for years -- are they still cardboard (with metal or plastic bottom and top) or is the whole thing plastic now?

If it's cardboard, the problem might take care of itself after being underwater for awhile...

-Tim

P.S. My boy's 7 months so I think I'll be getting re-familiarized with the stuff in a short time...

[Jim-Iowa]

Good Luck!! My grandaughter put a full bar of soap in the toilet. Yep it lodged in the turn out. Rats went through but did not get it out. I finally took it up and took it out in the yard.
Took an old washing machine hose and cut one end off.
Hooked it to the garden hose and rodded the thing out from the bottom. the combination of pushing the hose backwards and hydralic effect of water washed it clean. Am not sure whats in playdough but being wet may have caused it to swell tight in the trap portion?
You may have to try this method?
Grampa must have been quite grumpy about the whole thing because it has not happened again?

[tfischer]

quote:Originally posted by Jim-Iowa

Am not sure whats in playdough but being wet may have caused it to swell tight in the trap portion?
the whole thing because it has not happened again?

I wasn't even thinking about the play-doh -- he said it was a small can, which shouldn't be quite a bit smaller then, well, the stuff that usually gets flushed down the toilet... [B)]. Unless the "small cans" are what used to be the "big cans" and now they have larger cans? When I was a kid (ok so that was awhile ago) small cans were about 2 or 3 inches high, and the large cans were about the diameter of a pop can, only shorter.

-Tim

[atgcpaul]

How about trying a wet-dry shopvac? If you're sure there isn't
going to be any "surprises" waiting for you, this might suck
it out.
You'd be surprised how clean a 20-year toilet is. I retiled
my 20-year bathroom with an accompanying 20-year old toilet and
was amazed that it was spotless. The wax ring was another story.
Just get a snake up in there from the other end and push out the can.


Paul

[dwolsten]

I'd just use this opportunity to replace it with a nice new toilet. You can get a nice Kohler or American Standard for $150 or so, and with only 1.6 gallons per flush, it'll save you a lot of money on your water bill. Just don't get one of the cheap toilets because they clog a lot (which is why the new toilets have gotten a bad reputation among some).

[tfischer]

quote:Originally posted by dwolsten

and with only 1.6 gallons per flush, it'll save you a lot of money on your water bill.

I hear this said all the time. But I've always wondered -- if people water their lawn, isn't that a lot more water used than a years worth of toilet flushes?

I'm not arguing with the savings -- just curious what percent of water usage is from toilets, vs. showers and lawn watering, for an average family. Seems like a 5 minute shower or 2-hour lawn watering session could use lots of water.

-Tim

[Lefty]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer

I hear this said all the time. But I've always wondered -- if people water their lawn, isn't that a lot more water used than a years worth of toilet flushes?
...
-Tim

Aaah, but the answer is simple. Rig the toilet and shower to drain onto the lawn!

[Tom Miller]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer

quote:Originally posted by dwolsten

and with only 1.6 gallons per flush, it'll save you a lot of money on your water bill.

I hear this said all the time. But I've always wondered -- if people water their lawn, isn't that a lot more water used than a years worth of toilet flushes?

I'm not arguing with the savings -- just curious what percent of water usage is from toilets, vs. showers and lawn watering, for an average family. Seems like a 5 minute shower or 2-hour lawn watering session could use lots of water.

-Tim

I was going to say that maybe the savings is in the fact that there's less flow to the sewage treatment centers. That is true, but then I found this:

According to http://www.epa.gov/owm/water-efficiency/toilets.htm

--
Nationally, the use of low flow toilets through new construction and normal replacements, is preliminarily estimated to save in excess of 7.6 billion gallons per day by 2020. This savings is nearly 19% of the total amount of water supplied by U.S. public water systems in 1995.
--

Regards,
Tom

[tfischer]

(from the article): "Toilets are the greatest water user in the house"

I still have a hard time believing that. Even with the old 5-gal per flush bohemouths, how many times does the thing get flushed in a day? And how much water does a 5-10 minute shower take? Or what about my old neighbor who had two sprinklers (on two different spigots) going literally all day, every other day (our city has even/odd watering restrictions)?

Again, I'm not trying to downplay the savings -- I just always here "toilets use the most water in a household" and have a hard time seeing that...

-Tim

[guycox]

Man, I wish I had the opportunity to replace a toilet. I'd replace it one of the whiz bang power assist one.. Let me tell you one thing -- nothing get's left behind. They are noisy, the first time I flushed one, it scared the daylights out of me..

On the other hand if you tried to flush a power assisted toilet with a stuck play-dough can it would probably launch the stool right through the roof.

[tfischer]

quote:Originally posted by guycox

Man, I wish I had the opportunity to replace a toilet. I'd replace it one of the whiz bang power assist one.. Let me tell you one thing -- nothing get's left behind. They are noisy, the first time I flushed one, it scared the daylights out of me..

We put a Briggs Vacuity in our last home. It's not a pressure assist, but instead has a special tank design which creates a vacuum. It's no louder than a normal, old-fashioned toilet, and takes good old-fashioned toilet parts. The toilet never clogged once in the 2 years we had it, much unlike our 5gal monster upstairs, and the 5gal monsters we have at our current home, which clog all the time (maybe I need to change my diet... [)])

-Tim

[jarhead]

quote:Originally posted by Scottydont

My son did the same thing when he was three with the spring loaded rod from a toilet paper holder. I could not get it out either and eneded up replacing the toilet! Replacing the toilet was easy but not cheap!

Scott,
That is so hillarious... not that you had to replace the toilet, but the fact that I was about to post this same question. My daughter accidentally dropped the spring loaded rod down the toilet while it was flushing. I am going to pull the porcelain throne this weekend and hope that I won't have to replace it.