GI Joe, What we find in toilets

[Terry]

GI Joe takes a ride in a toilet, and finds that life can be the dumps at times.

We got a call this week,

"Their toilet was plugging up, so they had called a plumber to come out. He thought that maybe it was a defective bowl."

Though we had installed the toilet for her previously, she called a plumber from the phone book that had the $50 off coupon.
The plumber came out, used a snake for three minutes, and charged her $200
The plumber said,

"Can't fix it, maybe you have a defective bowl lady. If you want me to pull the bowl, it will be another $600."
That would have made it $800 for the service call.

We went out, and used a closet auger on it. When the auger didn't work, we pulled the bowl. If the 1.5" end of the auger won't go through, it's time to pull.
Sticking out of the end of the toilet, was Mr G.I. Joe.
$150 service call and we were on our way.
A little less than the $800 that the other plumber wanted to charge. Of course it would have been $800 minus $50 for the coupon.

Never underestimate your kids. This woman had a nine year old. She thought he was too old to be putting GI Joes down the toilet.
Wrong.

[BAPlumber]

I once installed a toilet and was called back a few hours later because it was plugged. Pulled out a pair of eye glasses, no one in the house wore glasses. They must have been in there from the manufacturer, and no I didn't drop mine in.



I've also pulled out action figures, a plane, panties and one time a jar of vasaline in a boxing gym.

Brent

[Peanut9199]

I get a call at least once a week.
"I have a toilet and it's not flushing well" so i say if it's not flushing there is a blockage somewhere. they say "I called a plumber and he snaked it out so there is no blockage, it must be defective" so i say i will send out a service guy and if it's not a defect you pay for the service call and they say "Fine because it's not blocked" and we find G.I. Joe.
I had a guy who installed the toilet and never used it, he flushes a "Drake" and it not flushing. So i say it's blocked somewhere. He takes it apart in his backyard and fill and flushes, turns it upside down and runs a garden hose and nothing. So i feel sorry for the guy because he tried hard to find out the problem. I give him a new bowl and he installs it and no problems. I have the guys break apart the toilet bowl to see the trap and guess what i find.... a roll of teflon tape. I guess he was right it was never used. He felt terrible and i never charged him for the new bowl.

[gramps]

I promised to help someone with an issue with a blocked toilet. He told me his kid may have, but is not 100% sure thrown something down there. He has tried using a plunger and snaking it himself with no luck. I also don't know how well he plunged

I'm sure a similar problem like this comes up all the time.
Would taking the toilet off do any help? what is the best checklist method to figure out what is wrong with this sort of problem?

[SacCity]

Generally I try to auger the toilet, first once it is clear I like to pull the toilet and inspect to make sure that there is nothing lodged in the base of the toilet.
On occasion can not clear the toilet with an auger, at which point I pull it and try and clear from the other end. Last one like this the three year old had flushed a bunch of maxipads which expanded when they got wet...

[Terry]

Here is a fork that was removed from a toilet bowl. The closet auger snatched the fork, but when I tried to pull it back, it spread out and would stick. I had to push it all the way through and then remove the fork from the snake. The homeowner decided against reusing the fork.



Things that young kids put in toilets.

[wjcandee]

Since I first started participating in this forum, this has been one of my all-time favorite threads. I saw it early, and cite it often.

And it just keeps getting better.