Length of stiff but flexible plastic pipe prevents bowl scratching by metal snake

[john1031]

I have used a length of flexible plastic pipe to prevent bowl scratching by a metal snake when unplugging toilets. The snake head fits into the plastic pipe and you can easily feed the snake through the plastic pipe. I had used a 3/4 dia pipe, but now have a 1 in dia section as it seems to be more flexible yet stiff. 3 to 4 feet of pipe works OK.