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When Designers Don't Understand What They're Designing For, a Really Stupid Way to Clear Toilet Clogs, and the Design Differences Between Plungers

By Rain Noe - June 2, 2014

in Object Culture | Hand Tools

None of you clicked onto Core77 today to read about impacted fecal matter, but design touches all aspects of our lives, including the gross ones. Don't worry, and don't put that sandwich down yet; I'm not going to dwell on the scatological. I am writing this entry out of amazement that some people do not understand the ingenious design of plungers and how they are meant to be used.

It's bad enough that this lack of understanding exists among consumers, but I find it unforgivable for product designers. When designers fail to understand the very devices they're designing for, it becomes what we call Epic Fail. First off, look at this design and see if you understand why it is flawed:

You either know right away why the design is fundamentally incorrect, or you don't. Read on. The other day someone clogged the toilet in my photography studio and I had to clear it with a plunger. Yes, it was disgusting, made worse by the fact that the offender had tried to plunge it using the wrong plunger, did not know what they were doing, made a bit of a mess while failing to clear the clog, and finally called me in embarrassment. But while it was disgusting, it was a short and easy task because I know how to unclog a freaking toilet.

I'm surprised when people don't know this, but there are two main types of plungers, one designed for sinks and the other designed for toilets. Observe:

Sink Plunger - Flat Bottom

Toilet Plunger - Protruding Bottom

The sink plunger has a flat bottom that corresponds with the area around the drain in a sink basin, which is always flat with a kitchen sink and usually close-to-flat with a bathroom sink. (In fact when it came time to buy a new bathroom sink for the studio, I selected one with a flat bottom because I knew it would get clogged and would be easier to get the plunger around the drain.)

The toilet plunger has a protruding bottom, and is of course made of flexible rubber. The protrusion is meant to go into the large, throat-like opening at the bottom of a toilet, while the largest-diameter part of the plunger then forms a seal around the basin surrounding the drain.

Using a flat-bottomed sink plunger, you cannot easily get a good seal around this irregularly-shaped aperture, nor can you accurately direct the force of the plunging downward.

I think a lot of people don't realize how a plunger is meant to be used. You are not forcing air down towards the clog. Air is lighter than water (duh) and won't break up a waterborne clog, not to mention it will cause messy splashing. You are meant to use a plunger to clear the clog by creating water pressure.

Which means that the most important thing when clearing a toilet clog is to first fill the plunger with water. Not in the sink, I mean you stick the plunger into the toilet and tilt it at an angle, so that you hear air bubbles coming out of the inside of the plunger as it fills with water. Fittingly, this is easiest to do when the toilet is filled up to the brim, as they are when they are clogged. Then you form a seal around the bottom of the basin, as described above, and give it a half-dozen short pumps. When you do this correctly there is no splashing and you'll find the clog clears almost immediately.

Here's the best video I've found illustrating this:

Perhaps now you understand why the design up top is flawed. The designer has created a handsome little stand to hold an extra roll of toilet paper--and the stand contains a sink plunger. With toilet plungers, the protrusion can often be turned inside-out to fit inside the bowl of the plunger, but the one in the photo above is too shallow to be such. That's the wrong type of plunger, indicating the designer does not understand the difference.

More proof that the common man does not understand how easy plunging is, is that this video below is currently making the blogosphere rounds--and people are calling it "ingenious." Look at how involved this is:

That is one of the dumbest, most wasteful designs I've ever seen. It uses plastic, adhesives and ink to solve a problem that has already been solved by a plunger, and you can keep a plunger to use again, rather than throwing it away. Plus, how messy must that adhesive sheet thing be to dispose of afterwards?

Lastly, there's another design for toilet plungers, the accordion-style you see the plumber using in the video above:

While these supposedly create more force, the design creates more crevices for gunk to get trapped in, meaning you're going to spend more time cleaning this design off.

This blog will now return to your regular poo-free programming.

o

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paul

10 years ago

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Wow, no comments on this. At first I thought this was going to be a kind of interesting article. I looked at the silly plunger covers and was thinking how I'd never want to put something that is used for unclogging the toilet next to something that should be very hygienic, namely the TP. Also, the wet plunger moisture will most likely travel up the handle and possibly dampen the TP. But to say it's because the designer didn't know the difference between a sink plunger and a toilet plunger is laughable. Long before there were ball or necked plungers there were only the flat plungers for toilets. Just because the necked plunger is more efficient doesn't mean the that the flat plunger has been relegated to sink duty. Most sinks first of all have vents and are almost unplungable. Most kitchens have double sinks that make them almost unplungable. Millions of those iconic red suction cup plungers have been made and sold for their primary function and that's unclogging toilets, not sinks. I think all your arguments for why the flat plungers suck for plunging toilets are the same arguments Toilaflex gave with regards to their necked plunger when they came out with it.
When I was a kid we couldn't afford the hi dollar Toilaflex, we could only afford the "Sink Plunger."
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Joe R

9 years ago

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What a great article! This one definitely caught my eye as years ago I was a professional plumber during the day and a design student at night. I bought many different kinds of plungers during those years and conferred with many other pros. Most agreed that what you called "The sink plunger" was actually the best solution for toilet clogs. See, the clog is stopped as it forces itself downward. Typically, most people will force down with the plunger making the stoppage worse. The trick is to use the red plunger in your first pic. You gently press it down and use suction force to pull out the clog. This works way better than pressing up and down and it is a much cleaner process. If all else fails, use a toilet auger: www.ridgid.com/us/en/toilet-augers

Thanks for writing this interesting piece!

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LanVy Nguyen

9 years ago

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As much as I absolutely detest the practice of disposable use, I would have to disagree with you regarding the plastic cover unclogger; it's an EPIC WOWSHER. This is a design for real life because most people simply don't want to deal with a used plunger.

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Jason

10 years ago

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I believe one of the reasons for the plastic being a better solution is that when you put a plunger in a toilet that if you've tried to flush it once or twice that it fills, almost to the rim, and sometimes over the rim. So when you insert a plunger in and it displaces the water you potentially may get an undesired mess on the floor. With the plastic version you seal off the toilet from any leakage.

I'm thinking that could have been a design consideration.
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Takumi

10 years ago

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As a Japanese, I wonder if the rate of toilets getting clogged is lower in Japan with less paper usage thanks to those awesome/weird shower toilets.
/
Anyway, I hope more designers are tempted to solve the root cause (also considering any human behavioural aspects) than coming up with symptomatic, reactionary solutions.
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@Gillis, OP knows your point as that very point is addressed in the article. Don't have to leave a sarcastic comment w/o reading you know. :P
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Gillis

10 years ago

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Did the OP ever consider that maybe the cover at the top is just a holder for extra TP?

And perhaps OP also doesn't realize that on most protruding type plungers, the protruding part is flexible and folds up into the main part so it can stand up straight without tipping over.

It's bad enough that this lack of understanding exists among consumers, but I find it unforgivable for the OP. When the OP fails to understand the very devices they're writing about, it becomes what we call Epic Fail.
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Amanda S

10 years ago

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That disposable toilet unclogger could cause some traumatic backsplash to the big-poo'd user if it wasn't properly sealed on the bowl.

However, the waterforce-dragonball-Z effect of unclogging the toilet by pushing a poo bubble would be AMAZING
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Greg

10 years ago

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weird. i was always taught to, yes, fill the plunger with water first, but then compress the plunger gently and pull UP with force. supposed to be easier on pipes. maybe it's because ive always lived in old houses where people worry about such things.
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The seat guy

10 years ago

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You ruined my breakfast but my tech culture is more rich now, thanks.
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Jan

10 years ago

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I've never seen one of these Protruding Bottom Plungers here in Germany ;-) we do fine with the flat one I guess.
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Lara

10 years ago

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I have not seen any protruding bottom plunger in my life before this article. So I am guessing, people do fine with flat bottom plungers. At least the cleaning lady in my building never has any problems.
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Daniel

10 years ago

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I don't know if plumbing is better in my part of the world, or if people just don't use a whole roll of toilet paper to wipe their bum, but I've never seen a toilet clogged like that and never needed a plunger.
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Nick

10 years ago

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Clearly there's something wrong with the current design - everything (including me until I read this post) THINKS they know how to use it, but realistically they don't. And why should they when you only use the thing for 15 minutes every decade?

Sure the plastic sheet one isn't reusable, but it takes up basically no space and it's far more obvious how to use it, especially when there are instructions written on the top.

So yes, the traditional plunger may be a better product when used correctly, but that's kinda irrelevant if no one does.
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Rafael Morgan

10 years ago

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Actually, I've used the same technique of the last video several times, only with regular plastic bags instead of a self adhesive plastic sheet. Just raise the toiled lid, wet the toiled border, "dress" it with the garbage bag, close the lid, sit on top of it to improve sealing and then flush it a few times. It always works.
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db

10 years ago

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I'm going to have to disagree with the OP, that disposable plunger is great.

No matter how well you clean a "regular" plunger, it is still nasty in my eyes.

Also, since I have probably plunged twice in the last ten years, that film could have a smaller footprint than that large molded rubber part.
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John Everett

10 years ago

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I bet 90% of people donÂ´t know how to use a plunger. I didnÂ´t until today. Thanks!
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dongzo

10 years ago

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I've successfully unclogged many a toilet with the sink plunger variant. They seem to be much more common, in my experience. The biggest design flaws I see with that combo plunger/paper dispenser has to do with ergonomics in use: the questionable stability, (unless it's got 20lbs of ballast in the bottom) and having to dig into the cylindrical vessel in order to find the free end of the roll.
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