To think you should not put baby wipes down someone else's toilet?

[LiegeAndLief]

This going to be massively identifiable if the culprit is an MNer, but anyway...

We have a downstairs toilet with a macerator on it. I had a friend round with a potty training toddler who had an accident, so she went to the downstairs toilet to clean her up. Later that evening, I discovered that the toilet was backed up and the macerator wasn't working. There was a suspicious looking wipe floating in the toilet.

Dh and I tried to unblock it but had to call in a plumber, who has just left (with a large chunk of cash). There was what looked like half a packet of baby wipes in there. Not even flushable wipes, proper tough Johnson's type baby wipes. Some of them have been pulled through into the motor and it's fucked. Going to have to get a completely new macerator at exorbitant cost.

I'm really cross with myself for not mentioning that you can't put anything but toilet paper into a macerator, but really, would you put a whole load of actual baby wipes down someone else's toilet? Or even your own?! My friend is lovely and has done lots for us and I can't bring myself to mention this to her but I am just so frustrated.

[Fakebook]

What? You shouldn't flush flushable wipes down the loo either?! What about things like Kandoo? I buy those and the boots and tesco kiddy flushable wipes for dd so she wipes her bum properly. She's been using them for 2 years now.

[YippeeKiYayMakkaPakka]

YANBU, and I wouldn't have thought to mention it either, even without a macerator toilet. I'd assume that people know not to flush wipes.

[LiegeAndLief]

There was someone on the radio the other day from Thames Water bemoaning the rise of flushable wipes. Apparently the don't break down like toilet paper does and cause big problems in the public sewers.

[weeblueberry]

I genuinely had no idea you couldn't flush tampons... Towels sure but never tampons.

[kali110]

Omg why do they tell you theyre flushable then ??

[kali110]

Me neither weeblueberry!

[weeblueberry]

I've just looked at my packet of pampers sensitive baby wipes and it doesn't say anything about not flushing them? Not arguing with you guys obviously, just that it doesn't state on it that flushing is a no no...

[Zara1984]

You need to bring it up with your friend OP.

DMIL didn't know you couldn't flush tampons until I told her and she still doesn't believe me

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Charmin loo roll (or the other thick re-inforced ones) can block things too. Nothing goes down ours except body waste and loo roll (the normal sort), when we used Kandoo wipes those were bagged and binned too, although only used them for a few months.

[eltsihT]

If you ever go scuba diving and are near a dive boat when someone flushes loo paper it's like getting snowed on under water as loo paper breaks up into little pieces in water.

Flushable wipes... And everything else mentioned don't break up the same way and can therefore block the loo. Infact dh poo can block the loo but that's a whole other thead.

I would say something to her people won't change habits if they aren't told why not to.

[Sparklingbrook]

But the wipe manufacturers don't care what happens once they have left the toilet bowl do they? They don't care about blocked pipes and fatbergs full of wipes.

The wipe can't disintegrate like loo roll does-it's not made of paper.

[jacks365]

Just checked my huggies wipes and they have a picture on the back of a toilet with a cross over it so I assume that means do not flush but it doesn't spell it out.

[elcranko]

I remember years ago blocking our loo by flushing face wipes. I didn't know at the time that you weren't supposed to do this and it cost a lot of money to put it right.

I would tell your friend. She probably does the same thing at home and needs to be told before the same thing happens again.

[sameoldIggi]

I hadn't heard of a macerator toilet before today, when I bought some flushable wipes that said on them "not to be flushed in a macerator" or words to that affect. And now this thread. Really must go and google it to find out what it is (presumably a not-very-effective type of toilet!)

[Hassled]

I think a picture of a toilet with a cross through it is pretty clear as to its meaning, tbh.

I've done the washing a disposable nappy in the machine by accident thing too - balls of gel everywhere. It wasn't fun.

And yes, tell her. You don't have to mention the fact it's totally buggered and will cost £600, just that you've had some wipe-related loo problems and does she realise you can't flush wipes? So downplay it a bit, but don't not say anything.

[20wkbaby]

We use normal toilet paper into our macerator toilet (the basics sort that disintegrates pretty much before you use it). I had no idea you weren't meant to.

On the other hand we do not pass solids into the macerating toilet - we use the upstairs for all that carry on.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Just to point out again.

The only things to go down a toilet should be wee poo and standard toilet paper.

You should not flush:
Nappies
Sanitary towels
Tampons/tampon applicators
Face wipes
Baby wipes
Flash wipes
Flushable wipes
Any sort of wipes I've not listed
Moist toilet paper
Kandoo and their ilk...

Now some of these listed products may advertise themselves as being flushable/biodegradable. Yes they will physically flush and they may biodegrade in a few hundred years but they will also cause blockages which at worst will flood you with sewage and at best will add zillions to water bills as some poor sod has to be paid to get them out of the sewer system.

[avolt]

You can flush wipes away in a standard toilet - although I don't think the water companies find it easy if you do. But with a macerator/Saniflo - they don't have a big waste pipe. It has a rotating blade to chop up all that comes down the loo and feeds it to the sewer via a narrower pipe. So if you put a baby wipe down, it just wraps around the rotating blade, causes it to seize up and the motor burns out.

[nemno]

I got blamed once when we rented a flat in a block for 6 months. The blockage was caused by tampons and I was the only female resident. I protested that I knew not to flush anything like that. I know they didn't believe me :(

I was vindicated though when I left that flat obviously 7+ months pregnant.

[Sparklingbrook]

And no condom flushing.

[weeblueberry]

I think a picture of a toilet with a cross through it is pretty clear as to its meaning, tbh.

It literally has nothing on my wipes indicating they shouldn't go down the loo. They do however have a lot of German writing on them so I'm wondering if they're not actually from this country and therefore might not have that on them...

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Manufacturers don't want to you not to flush as that would imply they are not that convenient.

It's the water companies who have to deal with the aftermath who say don't flush.

Hence why it is possible to buy Flushable wipes, though you never should.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

If you leave a sheet of normal toilet paper in a puddle of water for an hour or so it will have turned to mush.

Moist toilet tissue and baby wipes can stay wet for years in the package without disintegrating.

So yes, it ought to be obvious.

[Sparklingbrook]

Whether they say flushable or not they shouldn't be flushed.