Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Jan 24, 10:18*am, Winston wrote:
I zap a soup bowl, half full of water for a couple minutes and
let the vapor condense within the oven cavity for a couple
additional minutes.

The crud on the walls and inside the door then wipes
away quickly and easily with a paper towel.
Repeat once and the oven looks like new!

--Winston

Good idea, less work than dragging it outside to use the pressure
washer.

jsw

Wow, great minds work alike Winston. I've been doing that years, right after tried
boiling pasta water in my microwave.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:16:04 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Wes wrote:
Jim wrote:

On Jan 24, 10:18 am, wrote:
I zap a soup bowl, half full of water for a couple minutes and
let the vapor condense within the oven cavity for a couple
additional minutes.

The crud on the walls and inside the door then wipes
away quickly and easily with a paper towel.
Repeat once and the oven looks like new!

--Winston

Good idea, less work than dragging it outside to use the pressure
washer.

jsw

Wow, great minds work alike Winston. I've been doing that years, right after tried
boiling pasta water in my microwave.

Wes

We should compile the group's 'tribal knowledge' and turn it into
an easily - searched database. I bet there are lots of things that
we each do that others could benefit from. I'm endlessly fascinated
by 'tips and tricks' that make 'nearly impossible' tasks easy.

Excellent idea, Winnie. You gonna compile it?


Ferinstance:
I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.

--
We're all here because we're not all there.

In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:

I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.



I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

I put in a new toilet a while back that seems to have a smaller than
average passageway. It's clogged up two or three times a year since new.

The last couple of times I had the 'pleasure' of dealing with it, I
mixed up a strong solution of liquid dishwashing detergent and water...
about a quart or so of I'd guess 80% detergent both times.

Said solution is on the dense side and sinks quickly... I kept the bowl
nearly full to keep some head pressure on the clog, then after 5 or 10
minutes, the lubed up clog passed.

Of course this won't work for towels, kid toys, root clogged sewer lines
and all that. My experience with this technique thus far is extremely
limited... but as of now I'm 2 for 2.

It's worth a shot, and beats hell out of piddling with the always
loathsome snake.

Hope it saves someone a headache sometime.

Erik

On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:38:08 -0800, Erik wrote:

In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:

I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.



I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

I put in a new toilet a while back that seems to have a smaller than
average passageway. It's clogged up two or three times a year since new.

The last couple of times I had the 'pleasure' of dealing with it, I
mixed up a strong solution of liquid dishwashing detergent and water...
about a quart or so of I'd guess 80% detergent both times.

Said solution is on the dense side and sinks quickly... I kept the bowl
nearly full to keep some head pressure on the clog, then after 5 or 10
minutes, the lubed up clog passed.

Of course this won't work for towels, kid toys, root clogged sewer lines
and all that. My experience with this technique thus far is extremely
limited... but as of now I'm 2 for 2.

It's worth a shot, and beats hell out of piddling with the always
loathsome snake.

Never heard of using a plunger?

Hope it saves someone a headache sometime.

Erik
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Erik wrote:
In ,
Larry wrote:

I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.



I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

Larry, Erik.

Please consider the porcelain insulators in your truck's engine.
Starting on a cold day, they are subjected to ~0 C to ~2000 C
once per revolution. They don't crack in normal use, yes?

The technique is to pour the ~100 C water down the center of
the bowl, raising the contents to ~50 C or so, lowering the
viscosity of the load. It might take 2 or 3 tries for the most
challenging ex-chimichanga but it always works, in my experience.

And it won't damage the plumbing.

--Winston

Gerald Miller wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:38:08 -0800, wrote:

In ,
Larry wrote:

I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.



I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

I put in a new toilet a while back that seems to have a smaller than
average passageway. It's clogged up two or three times a year since new.

The last couple of times I had the 'pleasure' of dealing with it, I
mixed up a strong solution of liquid dishwashing detergent and water...
about a quart or so of I'd guess 80% detergent both times.

Said solution is on the dense side and sinks quickly... I kept the bowl
nearly full to keep some head pressure on the clog, then after 5 or 10
minutes, the lubed up clog passed.

Sometimes hot water works in seconds.

Of course this won't work for towels, kid toys, root clogged sewer lines
and all that. My experience with this technique thus far is extremely
limited... but as of now I'm 2 for 2.

It's worth a shot, and beats hell out of piddling with the always
loathsome snake.

Never heard of using a plunger?

Sure!
It is 'way less effective and 'way less pleasant.

--Winston

Never heard of using a plunger?

The head rotted off mine years ago... I'll surely get another first time
lubing the clog fails.

I hate snakes...

Erik

On 2011-01-29, Winston wrote:
Gerald Miller wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:38:08 -0800, wrote:

[ ... ]

It's worth a shot, and beats hell out of piddling with the always
loathsome snake.

Never heard of using a plunger?

Sure!
It is 'way less effective and 'way less pleasant.

Sometimes more than "way les effective". Our downstairs john
(of the water saving style) has a design which I guess looked pretty to
someone. The hole at the bottom of the visible bowl is sort of square,
and there are shallow folds leading down to those corners. The result
is that a plunger will not seal, and if you attempt to use it, you get
four jets of water with each stroke -- and no pressure to clear the
clog.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Larry, Erik.

Please consider the porcelain insulators in your truck's engine.
Starting on a cold day, they are subjected to ~0 C to ~2000 C
once per revolution. They don't crack in normal use, yes?

The technique is to pour the ~100 C water down the center of
the bowl, raising the contents to ~50 C or so, lowering the
viscosity of the load. It might take 2 or 3 tries for the most
challenging ex-chimichanga but it always works, in my experience.

And it won't damage the plumbing.

--Winston

Spark plug insulators are for real porcelain, and designed for such
service. To this day I have difficulty 'wrapping my head' around the
conditions they normally operate. I agree, they are one of engineerings
great, unsung marvels.

I'm reasonably certain most, if not all toilets are in reality 'vitreous
china', and I'll bet money they aren't stress relieved in the mfg
process. Too expensive...

Check this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet

Look down near the bottom of the article under the heading 'How They Are
Made'

Erik

Erik wrote:

(...)

Spark plug insulators are for real porcelain, and designed for such
service. To this day I have difficulty 'wrapping my head' around the
conditions they normally operate. I agree, they are one of engineerings
great, unsung marvels.

You are right of course.

I retract my statement about porcelain because it has only
'moderate' thermal shock resistance in relation to the
other varieties of vitreous whiteware which range from
'good' to 'excellent' in thermal shock handling capability.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_wlZ5LHTyBIC&pg=SA12-PA100&lpg=SA12-PA100&dq="vitreous+china"+specification+"thermal+s hock"&source=bl&ots=tHzBebCBw0&sig=8KuRI4j-HvqDs4aBB9jqRnE6f6A&hl=en&ei=XcNDTaKWH5K4sAORpsGsC g&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB4Q 6AEwAw#v=onepage&q="thermal
shock"&f=false

Apparently sparkplugs are weenies WRT thermal shock.

Or so says The CRC handbook of mechanical engineering
(Second Edition, bottom of page 12-97)
By Frank Kreith, D. Yogi Goswami

--Winston

On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:38:08 -0800, Erik wrote:

In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:

I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.



I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

Ah, the second strike.


I put in a new toilet a while back that seems to have a smaller than
average passageway. It's clogged up two or three times a year since new.

The last couple of times I had the 'pleasure' of dealing with it, I
mixed up a strong solution of liquid dishwashing detergent and water...
about a quart or so of I'd guess 80% detergent both times.

Said solution is on the dense side and sinks quickly... I kept the bowl
nearly full to keep some head pressure on the clog, then after 5 or 10
minutes, the lubed up clog passed.

Turns it into something slick as goose ****, does it?


Of course this won't work for towels, kid toys, root clogged sewer lines
and all that. My experience with this technique thus far is extremely
limited... but as of now I'm 2 for 2.

It's worth a shot, and beats hell out of piddling with the always
loathsome snake.

Hope it saves someone a headache sometime.

It sure sounds safer than boiling water.

--
We're all here because we're not all there.

On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:49:57 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Erik wrote:
In ,
Larry wrote:

I've used the 'boiling water' trick to clear a stopped toilet
on three occasions over the years. It beats the heck out
of using a snake in terms of speed, effectiveness and pleasantness!

Has anyone had their toilet crack in two from this tactic yet?
That'd put boiling **** all over your feet and floor.



I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

Larry, Erik.

Please consider the porcelain insulators in your truck's engine.
Starting on a cold day, they are subjected to ~0 C to ~2000 C
once per revolution. They don't crack in normal use, yes?

So all porcelainized ceramics are the same, are they, Win?
And the same thickness, shape, etc?


The technique is to pour the ~100 C water down the center of
the bowl, raising the contents to ~50 C or so, lowering the
viscosity of the load. It might take 2 or 3 tries for the most
challenging ex-chimichanga but it always works, in my experience.

IMHE, chimis were never a problem. Mexican food is purt much
self-regulating.


And it won't damage the plumbing.

I guess with lots of water to mitigate thermal shock, it might be
considerable less unsafe, but for that terlit bowl with a bit of
internal stress already there, it could push it over the edge. I
suppose that the wax ring would survive all this, though.

--
We're all here because we're not all there.

On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:54:57 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Erik wrote:

(...)

Spark plug insulators are for real porcelain, and designed for such
service. To this day I have difficulty 'wrapping my head' around the
conditions they normally operate. I agree, they are one of engineerings
great, unsung marvels.

You are right of course.

They're also quite effectively heat-sunk.


I retract my statement about porcelain because it has only
'moderate' thermal shock resistance in relation to the
other varieties of vitreous whiteware which range from
'good' to 'excellent' in thermal shock handling capability.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_wlZ5LHTyBIC&pg=SA12-PA100&lpg=SA12-PA100&dq="vitreous+china"+specification+"thermal+s hock"&source=bl&ots=tHzBebCBw0&sig=8KuRI4j-HvqDs4aBB9jqRnE6f6A&hl=en&ei=XcNDTaKWH5K4sAORpsGsC g&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB4Q 6AEwAw#v=onepage&q="thermal
shock"&f=false

Apparently sparkplugs are weenies WRT thermal shock.

Or so says The CRC handbook of mechanical engineering
(Second Edition, bottom of page 12-97)
By Frank Kreith, D. Yogi Goswami

Yogi Bearswami?

--
We're all here because we're not all there.

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:16:04 -0800,
wrote:

(...)

We should compile the group's 'tribal knowledge' and turn it into
an easily - searched database. I bet there are lots of things that
we each do that others could benefit from. I'm endlessly fascinated
by 'tips and tricks' that make 'nearly impossible' tasks easy.

Excellent idea, Winnie. You gonna compile it?

Nup.

Not enough people would participate. AMHIKT



--Winston

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:38:08 -0800,
wrote:

(...)

I think I'd also be leery of thermal shocking a toilet... it could do a
number on the wax ring as well.

Ah, the second strike.

Nonsense. A couple minutes at 50 C every couple years isn't going to
be enough to soften the seal. Beeswax begins melting at 63 C.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeswax

--Winston

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

IMHE, chimis were never a problem. Mexican food is purt much
self-regulating.

Pedro's; The Thinking Man's Laxative

(...)

I guess with lots of water to mitigate thermal shock, it might be
considerable less unsafe, but for that terlit bowl with a bit of
internal stress already there, it could push it over the edge.

If the 'thermal strain knee point' for vitreous porcelain was as
low as you imply, we would be seeing catastrophic disassembly
of fixtures every night. It just doesn't happen.

--Winston

On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:22:17 -0800, Winston
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

IMHE, chimis were never a problem. Mexican food is purt much
self-regulating.

Pedro's; The Thinking Man's Laxative

Now, try new and improved "Pedro's Extra HOT!"
You'll be screaming "COME ON ICE CREAM" after this one.


(...)

I guess with lots of water to mitigate thermal shock, it might be
considerable less unsafe, but for that terlit bowl with a bit of
internal stress already there, it could push it over the edge.

If the 'thermal strain knee point' for vitreous porcelain was as
low as you imply, we would be seeing catastrophic disassembly
of fixtures every night. It just doesn't happen.

Every night, someone pours boiling water into a toilet? Interesting.
http://www.google.com/search?q=boili...r+toilet+crack
No cracks that I can find, but lots of caveats. OK, I'm done.

--
We're all here because we're not all there.

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

Every night, someone pours boiling water into a toilet? Interesting.

Not water. The equivalent is a used chimi dinner.

http://www.google.com/search?q=boili...r+toilet+crack
No cracks that I can find, but lots of caveats. OK, I'm done.

You can tell that many of the writers don't have any personal
experience, they are just babbling advice that 'feels right'.

I really liked the ones who advise using a plunger *after*
the hot water.

Oh Well.



--Winston -- Can we talk about something else now?

On 29 Jan 2011 06:43:34 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2011-01-29, Winston wrote:
Gerald Miller wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:38:08 -0800, wrote:

[ ... ]

It's worth a shot, and beats hell out of piddling with the always
loathsome snake.

Never heard of using a plunger?

Sure!
It is 'way less effective and 'way less pleasant.

Sometimes more than "way les effective". Our downstairs john
(of the water saving style) has a design which I guess looked pretty to
someone. The hole at the bottom of the visible bowl is sort of square,
and there are shallow folds leading down to those corners. The result
is that a plunger will not seal, and if you attempt to use it, you get
four jets of water with each stroke -- and no pressure to clear the
clog.

Enjoy,
DoN.
I haven't seen one of those, but, if I do, I'll run the other way at
high speed. I find that "flush twice" toilets still have a long way to
go before I would rush out to buy one.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada