Soda Can in Pipes
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No, not a toilet. However, a soda can would fit in a roof vent and could drop down and block the drain that way.
Most trapways are 2" or smaller and have round bends. I can't imagine a pop can fitting through one. Most small cell phones get stuck without making it through.
Most trapways are 2" or smaller and have round bends. I can't imagine a pop can fitting through one. Most small cell phones get stuck without making it through.
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A soda can in a pipe could have been placed there by a workman during construction. Lazy or malicious? I don't know. I have a friend who had a glass jar removed by a plumber months after the new bathroom was put in. I removed a soda can from under just-laid sod, at the edge of the sidewalk, during wrap-up of a street sewer project. Some construction workers do this kind of thing.
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Thank you so much for your response. I am in a situation where my landlord is blaming me for this situation saying we flushed a can down the toilet. They are trying to charge me for damages. I can't get any plumbers in the area to give me any kind of documentation saying we didn't cause this. I thought common sense would say that we cannot do that. The plumber that found it even said it was not a way we could do it. I just needed to see another opinion to know that I'm not crazy. Thank you again.
Thank you for your response. That's exactly what the plumber that found it surmised, but he won't say it in writing as they want to keep a relationship with our landlord who is paying them. But I know I didn't do it, and I find it physically impossible and ludicrously ridiculous to be accused of it. But so it goes.
yadeal
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Unbelievable! Perhaps the plumber will write that the pipe diameter is only so many inches. Bring him to small claims court and bring a soda can and small piece of pipe the same diameter to demonstrate it is impossible to fit a can through the pipe. Or get a plumbing store to state it cannot physically happen. I am not a professional plumber.
hj
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The size of the pipe has NOTHING to do with it. The opening in the toilet, along with its short radius bends would prevent ANY can from passing through the toilet.
I would never blame a homeowner for that. More likely a roofer or carpenter while work was being done. A pop can won't fit through a toilet, or any other fixture in the home.
Rayh78
Member
Cant get a plumber to. Is there a name on the toilet. Should be easy to get the manf. to fax you a letter that a soda can cant go down any of their toilets
Jadnashua
Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
It should be fairly easy to take an empty soda can and try to flush it! To get a feel for this if you don't want to try that is to turn the water off, flush the toilet so there's very little left, then try to get the can into the trap (outlet) of the toilet...
On many toilets, you can look at the side and see the waste path. It wouldn't be hard to verify that the can can't get around the bends, even if it did start to go though.
Worst case, you remove the toilet, take it outside, then try to flush a can through. None that I'm familiar with would do that unless it was maybe one of the mini ones that were also smaller in diameter...a 'typical', 12oz can won't make it through.
I just measured a 'normal' sized soda can, and it's 2-5/8" in diameter, and 4-7/8" tall. Most toilets I'm familiar with have an opening that is about 2" to 2-1/8", or at least 1/2" smaller in diameter, not counting the problem of getting it to go around a corner.
On many toilets, you can look at the side and see the waste path. It wouldn't be hard to verify that the can can't get around the bends, even if it did start to go though.
Worst case, you remove the toilet, take it outside, then try to flush a can through. None that I'm familiar with would do that unless it was maybe one of the mini ones that were also smaller in diameter...a 'typical', 12oz can won't make it through.
I just measured a 'normal' sized soda can, and it's 2-5/8" in diameter, and 4-7/8" tall. Most toilets I'm familiar with have an opening that is about 2" to 2-1/8", or at least 1/2" smaller in diameter, not counting the problem of getting it to go around a corner.
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and confirming I'm not crazy! I am going to try to put some of your suggestions to use. The can is still still in there and they are refusing to fix it saying it is our fault. They hired a plumber to put a camera in there which is how they located it. Now they want to charge us $700 for the camera work plus the work they did before trying to find it. And the estimate to fix it is nearly $2800. I can't believe this is happening. So I guess we have to go to court to figh it. What a nightmare.
Ballvalve
General Engineering Contractor
Just saw an American Standard video and they flushed 3 cell phones, 20 golf balls, 15 water wigglers, and a bunch of other terrible things down one of their big trap models [not all at once] looked legit. But forget the soda cans. Yeah, thru the vent or a clean out. Maybe the renters kids, but try and get it back! I have a renter from hell - a hoarder that owes me $5,000 in rent and another $12,000 for the thirty cats that she moved in when her boyfriend died - in the living room. Need a haz-mat suit to go inside. Worse than any house in Houston! Actually a flood might clean it out.
Ballvalve
General Engineering Contractor
As a renter, you are god in the courts. Said from a landlord. You don't pay, or you move out after a few month of non pay. Not worth it for the owner to chase you and try and attach wages, unless he is a lawyer. You can get a camera up your anus for a colon inspection or a little one up your peter for less than $700, so I hope this plumber is also a MD. Fix it for $2800? Hello? I have a house with 15 or 20 grand worth of cat piss damage, and if you walked in, you would vomit. The renter says it just needs a good dusting. No money back from such crazies.
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