Tried both a snake and a shop vac for a clogged toilet. The vac won by a mile.

Had a tenant in a duplex in Denver who flushed wipes and the snake just pushed it all deeper. Grabbed my Rigid shop vac, 2 inch hose taped to the flange, and it pulled out a massive wet clump in 30 seconds. Anyone else swear by this for stubborn clogs?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan70525d ago

Your Rigid shop vac" - man, that's wild. I've never even thought about using a shop vac on a toilet. I always figured the snake would do the job, but you're saying it made things worse? That clump must have been something else. I'm honestly a little grossed out but also kind of impressed. Did you have to worry about... you know, splash back or anything?

carr.brooke25d ago

Oh man, you are asking the real questions here. So splash back, yeah that's a thing. I learned that the hard way. You gotta tape a plastic bag over the top of the hose end before you turn it on, just a little slit for the air to go through. Sounds crazy but it keeps the water from shooting back at you. Also I always make sure to go low and slow with the suction, like you're trying not to wake up a sleeping baby. And yeah, a snake is usually the first thing you try, but sometimes a clog is just so packed in there tight that the snake just pokes a hole right through the middle of it. Then it just seals back up worse than before. So the shop vac lets you pull the whole mess out at once instead of just pushing stuff around.