Loo brush head escaped down the loo...

[Rhubarbgarden]

A guest came downstairs this morning looking rather sheepish, and confessed that he had lost our loobrush head down the loo...

If you flush the loo now, the water comes right up to the brim before very, very slowly going back down. I rang a plumber, who said we would have to remove the entire loo in order to clear the blockage. Anyone know if this sounds right? I thought they'd be able to poke something down there to retrieve it.

Fortunately we have other loos, so it's not disastrous, just a pita. Any advice from plumbing-types appreciated!

you can try fishing it out with your 18" long fingers

It is not a good idea to try to flush away anything that has not passed through the human body, this is likely to drive the blockage deeper and make it worse.

some people would fabricate a hook with an unbent coat hanger. This will leave scratches and grey scuff marks on the porcelain. If you use, say, a piece of plastic, it will probably get stuck and break.

If it is reasonably modern with plastic pipes and connectors, it will not be very difficult to dismantle. If you have cast-iron pipes and old sealant it will be harder.

I hope the bathroom floor was not tiled round the pan.

Never mind, if necessary you can buy a nice new pan and cistern for less than £200

I had this problem. We threw a bucket 5l of water down the bog and it cleared it immediately! Gravity!

I think the problem would be that the head is a plastic core so won't "bend" at all to get round the pipes in the same way as, erm, other waste.

I suspect that you would nned to move the loo to retrieve it and then batter your guest round the head with it for being a tool and shoving the loo brush's head so far

Get the plumber in and make your guest pay.

Thanks all. Well I guess we'll try the bucket of water suggestion first and hopefully not flood the bathroom in the process.

The tiles are under the loo and it looks like plastic pipes, so Pigletjohn you give me hope it won't be too traumatic.

I can't charge the guest. It was... my Dad...

I would try the wire coat hanger, just make sure you put blue tack or wax or something on the end so you don't get scratches.

Well, dh, who is terrible at DIY, has now successfully dismantled the toilet and extracted the offending loobrush from the nether regions of the S bend.

Sadly his enthusiasm has dwindled there and he's gone off to fart around do other things, so the loo remains in bits and going on past form this may be the case for some time.

Thank you for all the suggestions.

I'm sure he'll get round to it in time.

A man doesn't need reminding every six months.

Thanks PigletJohn. I'll try to remember that...