Invention idea needing feedback: Plunger with a snake in the handle.

Hi I'm Dave and I have an invention idea that I've been thinking about for a while that I could really use some help from plumbers with.

The idea is to put a simple coiled snake into the handle of a toilet plunger to allow for easy unclogging on stubborn toilets. This wouldn't be industrial grade or anything, just enough to empower the owner if they have a bad toilet that gets clogged regularly.

Here is a link to the idea on Quirky.com quirky ideations | show It's a rough sketch but there is a better description there. If you can take a look and either respond here on this tread with your thoughts or on Quirky I would appreciate your professional opinions.

I would never recommend snaking through a toilet, though. The snake will scratch the heck out of the finish. Remove the toilet, snake the pipe.

Just my two canadian cents.

I agree, unless you put a teflon coating on the cable itll scratch

Also, I would think that a snake through the plunger would negate the vacuum action that makes a plunger useful.

Just like a closet auger, there has to be a 'hook' so the cable doesn't scratch up the visible part of the trapway.


Any cable less than 3/8" brings the risk of getting caught in the trapway by having too much flexibility by kinking or doubling back.

Whatever goes in, must come back out and if you pull back, the cable is going to grind the top part of the trapway.

Better make one and try it, see how you protect the visible porcelain.

Dave, you may find this website helpful. There is a link on there for an all in one invention company. www.inventiontomoney.com

I have been playing around with some hvac tool ideas as well. It's always hard to find where to start...

Sorry bud but this won't work. Some times you have to push pretty hard to get the snake through the p trap. Don't see how you could do that with this thing. Also like was said before it would scratch the hell out of the toilet.

Attached is the ridgid toilet auger you can see the hook that helps to protect. Instead of mounting on a plunger why not have a shop vac mounting or compressed air.

As stated above sometimes you really have to work to clear the lines inside the toilet trap, I've spent 30 minutes plus clearing out toys that have been dropped before a load of paper went down.

Intventing things are great sir, as I don't want to discourage you but other people have not added to the augar because it works. It's either pull the foreign object out they way it went in or pull the toilet and go backwards. It's that simple

Ridgid is a multi million dollar operation, and does studies to see what works and what doesn't . You might be looking at this all wrong. If a plumber has a augar and spent 50 bucks on a tried and true product, when stands the test of time. Why would a plumber use anything else... Plumbers are stubborn, once they find something that works , they stick to it.

But I wish you continue your journey and helping the plumbing industry more forward

Thanks for listening to my rant

Hey I resent being called stubborn no wait a minute I am stubborn. Never mind.

Sounds like the idea has potential. There are a few questions to be answered though.