Plumbers do not get enough of the credit they deserve. Sure, these unsung heroes might make us wait longer than we'd like for an appointment every now and then, but there's a reason you called them instead of doing the deed yourself.
These brave workers get their hands dirty so we don't have to. While they usually run up against the typical issues of clogging pipes in the bathroom and kitchen that we just don't have the guts (or gag reflex) to address ourselves, they also sometimes find some pretty surprising items lurking in drains.
I'm not just talking about engagement rings falling after doing the dishes, or kids experimenting with how much they can flush down the toilet, but truly bizarre things that somehow make their way through tight tunnels.
Take a look below to see the strangest items plumbers have discovered on the job.
Think you've seen even weirder? Let us know in the comments and be sure to SHARE with your friends!
[H/T: Reddit 1, 2, 3, Roto-Rooter, Daily Cognition]
Thumbnail sources: Cycling Cindy, Wikimedia Commons
1. Dentures
"My dad owns a plumbing company, and one of his men recently discovered that the cause of a leak was a pair of dentures that had been flushed down the toilet." — Rae_the_Wrackspurt
2. Men's Training Bra
You read that right: a training bra designed for men who became a bit droopy as they aged, found in the men's restroom, according to a 2007 survey from Roto Rooter's 5,000 field technicians of the weirdest things they'd come across.
3. Air Freshener
This was another doozy from the same survey, but maybe the client was just trying to get to the source of their smelly issue.
4. Mop Head
According to Roto Rooter's website, this is one that pops up as a big clog constantly for their techs. No matter what you've mopped up with it, they advise tossing these in the trash, not your toilet.
5. Q-tips
"Preschool age boys decided one day to see how many Q-tips it takes to clog a toilet. The answer is approximately 300." — Carl58
6. Money
"The most interesting was a call for total blockage in an 8" gravity line. The manhole was surcharged pretty bad and it was about 2 drops down from a laundry mat.
"Two 5-gallon buckets of quarters were blocking the line." — schismoto
7. Herring
"A herring (the whole fish) that made it all the way down to the base of the stack, then got stuck, causing the whole system to back up." — Alberta_Matt
8. Ham Bone
"One lady tried to flush a ham bone down her toilet." — Alberta_Matt
9. Deodorant
"Travel-sized deodorants down the toilet — what a nightmare." — roastybeast
10. Potato
"An entire potato. Evidently, the wife tried to flush some leftover stew because her garbage disposal was broken. The husband nearly pissed himself laughing." — MalignantSlurpee
11. Used Diaper And A Friend
"What looked like half a diaper and a GI Joe." — Reddit User
Have you discovered something even stranger lurking in your drains? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to SHARE with your friends!
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
