An amazing trick! Our 1-minute video shows you how to easily retrieve anything that went down the drain…without a pipe wrench or a plumber.
UPDATE: You must use a Wet/Dry shop vacuum. In the video, I casually mentioned "any vacuum will do". I hadn’t had my coffee yet and was clearly in "morning moron mode".
I don’t want to think about how much junk my kids have flushed or dropped down the drain. I sure wish I had known to use the vacuum, this is a great tip. Thanks!
What a great tip! I kinda want to go home and drop stuff down my sink now. The vacuum-pantyhose concept would also be a good idea for other things like socks dropped behind the washer and dryer.
Good tip, which I used to use to retrieve stuff from the floor drain at a retail establishment I used to work at. Big caveat though! Always use a wet dry vac AND be prepared to drain gallons of nasty grey water from the vacum tank afterwards. The vacuum doesn’t discriminate between valuables and rat turds.
Dave,
A floor drain would definitely be a messy proposition. Fortunately, this happened in a bathroom sink so the amount of water sucked up was just the small amount in the U shaped drain trap pipe. There were a few specks of dirt caught in the pantyhose, but luckily nothing that fell out of the back end of a rodent.
Thanks for the comment,
Michael
This is a great tip! I remember (many moons ago) as a teenager I lost a contact down the drain. I luckily was able to fish it out using a spool of kite string with a cotton ball tied to the end of the string. Luckily, the contact stuck to the cotton. Your method seems much more foolproof.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing this. I’m definitely going to subscribe to the site. Keep it up.
Michael,
My wife and I have two kids of our own and with one just now turning four and the other only 19 months old, I am sure that we will be using this method in the future! Very quality stuff.
Oh and by the way Tim’s four hour body methods are legit, so if you have toyed with the idea its worth giving it a try. Keep up the quality posts, as we are finding them more and more informative and entertaining.
Bunk
good stuff
Cool tip!
Another related tip for you: if you ever drop something on the ground and can’t find it, the vacuum/pantyhose trick will work to pick it up, but if you don’t want to risk damaging it, hold a flashlight parallel to the ground… it’ll make the shadow of the tiny thing a few inches long, and you’ll spot it right away.
@Adam Kayce - Great ideas. Thanks for chiming in.
Best,
Michael
Umm transvestite?? Was that a Freudian slip?
Anyway. good advice. Thanks for the video.
Thanks! Great idea. I was able to retrieve a toothbrush that had fallen down a bathroom sink that had no stopper.
OMG!!!! It worked. My prized pearl earring (a gift from my husband on our wedding day) went down the shower drain!!! I was mortified. We had to take the stiff part off the shop vac and keep going deeper BUT FINALLY GOT THE EARRING OUT!!!! I was sooooo happy…..THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!!
Hi Ana,
Thanks for putting a big smile on our faces. Comments like yours make doing Family Hack worthwhile.
Best,
Michael & Hannah
http://www.familyhack.com
About 6 months ago my diamond earring went down the shower drain so I had my insurance company replace it. Today my replacement earring worth $3500 went down the shower drain, so I called a plumber because I was able to turn the shower off as soon as I saw the earring go down the drain. While I was waiting on the plumber I went online to see if there was any hope of retrieving the earring and came across this website. I thought I would try the technique and it worked!!!!!!!! I could not believe it!!! Not only did I get the earring, but I got the back to it as well. Thank you very, very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday while cleaning my wedding band and engagment ring near the bathroom sink my engagement ring sliped out of my hand and down the bathroom sink drain that has no stopper! I was frantic to say the least! I was crying histerically when I called my husband. He assured me we would try to get it out when he got home by taking the pipes apart but couldnt promise anything. So while searching on the internet I came across this site and immediatley tried it! All I can say is Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!! It worked like a charm and I am wearing my beautiful sparkling ring today! Thank you so much!!!!!