On Nov 21, 3:01 am, harry wrote:
On Nov 21, 1:15 am, " wrote:









My basement toilet had always been a slow flusher, so much so that it
was seldom ever used. Decided to get one of those toilet augers from
Home Depot and give it a spin today. Well, the darn thing got trapped
in the pipe and all the twisting and pulling in the world couldn't
release it. Had to remove the toilet to investigate. Here's what I
found after shifting the toilet bowl;

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/image/139781857/original

Had to cut the auger free;

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/image/139785909/original

Figured it was then just a case of freeing the ball of dental floss
from the rusted pipe but after cutting away and pulling, it started to
look like I had bitten off more than I could chew. Perseverance
finally prevailed after pulling with all my might using two hands.
Wasn't really prepared for what slowly emerged from the pipe....A
three foot long floss beast;

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/image/139790294/original

Its head;

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/image/139790297/original

Its belly;

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/image/139790298/original

Moral of this story is probably never to flush dental floss down a
toilet. You may never know what lurks beneath your toilet thereafter.

Heh Heh. That is not dental floss.
That is what in the UK we call "gaskin" . It is hemp fibre (often
tarred) and was used to fill the joint in socket and spigot rigid
pipes. (Iron or earthen ware.)
Neoprene gaskets are usually used now.

http://www.draindomain.com/types%20o...pe%20work.html

Dunno what you call it in the US.
You may find there is a leak from a pipe joint now.
It must have been badly installed in the first place.

Well, Sherlock ya ain't.

Every single bell and hub joint in a three bathroom house would have
to have been pulled out to create that amount of fibrous material, and
it wouldn't have all collected at the one basement toilet flange.

R