The Ultimate Guide to Toilet Clogs | Chapter 1: Plungers for Dummies

Chapter 1: Plungers for Dummies

As promised, this week's article is the first chapter in our ultimate toilet clog guide. This week we will be covering the plunger. The plunger is the most well-known unclogging tool. Everyone should have a plunger somewhere in their house. If you don't, it's a real problem that needs to get fixed. Even if you do, you might want to consider buying a new one based on what plunger fits your needs best. You could get your regular old plunger, but is that what you really want?


Which one's right for me?

There are literally dozens of different plungers you can choose from on the market. Ironically, the plunger that suits you best can actually be selected based on a broad sense of your personality. We have our three most popular plungers listed below, going in detail on each plunger to see which one is right for you.


Sealmaster Plunger - The Staple of Normalcy



The sealmaster plunger is you're standard old plunger that you see in everyone's house. It gets the job done, which is great, but at the same time doesn't scream "I constantly clog the toilet" or "I buy obscure plungers". If you're a person that enjoys living in normalcy, than this plunger will suit your needs.



Force Cup Plunger - The Getter'done Plunger



The force cup plunger is for those that want the best of the best. Sure it will cost you a little bit more, but this plunger has top of the line performance. Because of the way that the cup is shaped, it makes a higher pressure seal when you plunge. The more high pressure the seal you have, the more likely that whatever is stuck in there will get unclogged. If you like products that get the job done, than the force cup plunger will exceed your expectations.


Accordion Plunger - The Unconventional Choice



The last plunger we will mention is the accordion plunger. The accordion plunger is for those going for a more exotic or unconventional look in their bathroom. While the exuberant style is not really necessary, it will look good in your bathroom and will be an interesting topic of conversation for those who see it. The great thing about this plunger is that you do not lose any performance in exchange for a neat plunger style. If you are all about bathroom design and furnishing, then this plunger will make a great addition to your bathroom.



But What about Storage?

So now that you know which plunger suits you best, how do you go about storing it? For one thing, you need to figure out if you want to keep it in the bathroom or not. Ir really depends on how picky you are with keeping the room straight, but I personally recommend keeping a plunger on each floor (residentially speaking). You could keep one in every bathroom, or likewise you could keep only one in the house, but I personally think that one on each floor is a happy medium. You also will want to decide whether or not to actually keep it in the bathroom. There is a case to be made for keeping it in the bathroom, but one could also be made for keeping it out of the bathroom, so it really boils down to personal preference.


So now that you have an idea of the number of plungers you want and where you want to keep them, you now need to think about how you want to store it. Sure you could just put it away, but that seems pretty disgusting and unsanitary considering where it has been. A popular solution for storing plungers is using a grocery bag that you don't need anymore. It keeps not only contains the plunger's nasty germs but it also will help air out the plunger. Not that you should put a soaking wet plunger in there, but a damp one should be just fine.



That's Cool. Now How do I Use it?

 Now that you have got your plunger situation figured out, you may be wondering what the most effective way to plunge is. Seeing that this would be a hard concept to explain over text, we created a video guide to show you what particular plunge method is the most effective.

So that's it folks. We hope that your knowledge regarding plungers has increased since reading this article. As mentioned in the video, we want to do a $20 prepaid Visa gift card giveaway to the most unconventional toilet unclog story. We want to keep this contest simple, so here's how it works:

• Reply in the comment box below with your story and your preferred e-mail address
• Replying will automatically enter you into the contest
• The contest's last day for story submission is September 19th, the day the last chapter of the guide will be published
• The winner will be announced via Twitter September 21st and will also receive an e-mail containing further instructions
• Once we get the necessary information from our winner, they will be sent their prepaid Visa card

Hope you guys enjoyed our first chapter of "The Ultimate Guide to Toilet Clogs"! Next week we will be covering the auger, the next step above a plunger when it comes to clogged toilets. Hopefully with your new-found plunger knowledge you can get the job done, but some jobs just can't be handled with a mere plunger. Thanks for tuning in to our blog, and as always, have a great week!

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The Ultimate Guide to Toilet Clogs: Introduction

Welcome to the Gorilla Weekly's first ever multi-week series, "The Ultimate Guide to Toilet Clogs". Over the next month or so, our weekly blog posts will be covering each of the chapters in this guide. This week is the introduction, and will serve as an index for the chapters once they have been published. In this guide we will cover the tools you need to unclog a toilet, how to use them, and preventative maintenance solutions. Included with these chapters are video tutorials to help you visualize some of the ideas we are trying to get across. Listed below are the chapters that we will be covering (linked to their respective pages once each chapter has been published):

Chapter 1: Plungers for Dummies

Chapter 2: Auger - The Heavy Doody Tool

Chapter 3: Last Resort Tactics

Chapter 4: Preventative Maintenance Solutions

We are looking forward to publishing these chapters throughout the next few weeks. Let us know if you have any suggestions for the guide or blog topics in general, and as always, have a great week!

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The Pitfalls of Waterless Urinals

In the past decade, there has been a shift in how we treat the earth. Protect the environment, save the trees, so on and so forth. I'm not against being environmentally friendly, but sometimes it's taken way too far. Naturally with this kind of environmental craze, people are going to come up with products that consumers will buy based on "going green". One of the more popular eco-friendly products in the plumbing industry is the waterless urinal. People will tell you that you save all this water and reduce maintenance cost, when that isn't really the case. Today, we're going to be talking about the pitfalls of waterless urinals.



The Problem

So you want to conserve water. If you own some kind of shop where you have high traffic public bathrooms, waterless urinals might seem like a good solution to do so. The downfall is that waterless urinals are going to cost much more in maintenance than standard urinals. When you urinate into a waterless urinal, 100% urine is travelling through those pipes as opposed to water diluted urine. The problem with this is that the calcium from the urine will begin to build up around the inside of the pipe and harden over time. It continues to do so, making less and less of a space for the urine to travel through. After 1 or 2 years in a high traffic bathroom, there is so much calcium buildup in the pipe that urine cannot pass through the calcium blockage. This is when the maintenance cost kicks in. Not even 2 years into the urinal's life, the pipes have to be torn out of the wall because of the calcium buildup. So how can you be eco-friendly and cost friendly at the same time?


The Solution

If want to avoid high maintenance cost and be environmentally friendly at the same time, there is still a great solution for you. Low consumption urinals are the best of both worlds. On average, low consumption urinals use an 1/8th the amount of water that regular urinals use. At the same time, it dilutes the water just enough so that you don't have the same rapid calcium buildup that you would normally have in waterless urinals.

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Create and Manage Your Own Facility with Prison Architect

Have you ever wanted the ability to create and manage your own prison facility? A lot of our customers are maintenance guys and facility managers for different corrections facilities, so let's talk about Prison Architect. Prison Architect is a PC game developed by Introversion Software that allows you to create and manage your own prison facilities in a tycoon-styled PC game. This week, we are going to take a look at what this game is about and why it would be an fun activity for current facility managers.

In Prison Architect you start out with $10,000, a blank plot of land, and a few workers. You also have a limited amount of time before you get your first batch of prisoners. Between the starting sum of money and the grants you can get by agreeing to build certain buildings, you have to buy materials for your building and construct different facilities with your workers. The goal is to get a basic functioning prison up by the time your first round of prisoners arrive. After they arrive, you can choose to take in more prisoners or not receive any at all for the time being. You get payed by the amount of prisoners you have, so the goal of the game is to host the most prisoners in order to make the most money. It is not as easy as it might seem, though. Aside from basic building construction, you also have to pay for other realistic facility needs such as electricity and plumbing. Your prisoners also have a happiness rate, and if they are not happy with their standard of living, they will eventually riot. In order to run a successful prison, you have to hire prison staff such as guards, cooks, and wardens. As if that's not enough to handle, prisoners can get their hands on contraband based on the different locations of the prison they visit. So do you have what it takes to run a successful prison?


I decided to cover Prison Architect this week because it is a game I personally enjoy, and many of our customers have facility maintenance jobs for different correctional facilities. In a nut shell, it is an in-depth correctional facility tycoon. If you are interested in buying Prison Architect, you can purchase it on steam here for $30. If that's more money than you are willing to pay for a game like that, you can wait for Steam's winter sale where a lot of the more popular Steam games are given good discounts. Leave any questions or thoughts in the comment section below, and come back next Friday for more Gorilla madness!

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How to Make Your Feces Smell Like a Christmas Tree

Today is the first day of August, so Christmas is probably the last thing you are thinking about.  Christmas is  a fun time though... being with family, opening presents, and singing carols make it the most wonderful time of the year. The middle of summer is seemingly the opposite: the most stressful time of the year. Different schedules, hot weather, and busy weeks aren't your common ingredients to a stress-free season. So how can you get into the Christmas spirit five months early? You can make your feces smell like a Christmas tree!


The Product


I would like to enlighten you all to a product called Poo Pourri. This is an essential component to any bathroom that wants to have an overall cleaner feel to it. Think about walking in to a stinky bathroom vs walking into a pleasantly scented bathroom: either you know it's been used recently or you presume it hasn't. Your initial impression of the scent can make a difference in your entire mood while you do your business. With Poo Pourri, you can can get rid of that smelly odor and make it as if you weren't even there.


Why it Works


When you spray Poo Pourri onto your toilet water, it covers the water with a 1 way air trap. Basically, your poop can drop in no problem, but all of the scent is retained in the trap. On top of that, the trap is designed to emit a scent of your choice out in place of the usual stink. Available scents include trap-a-crap, royal flush, heavy doody, and my personal favorite, Santa poo. Santa poo is great because you can spice up your bathroom with the traditional Christmas tree smell out of season. Do yourself a favor and conquer your #2's with a delightful Christmas scent!

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