Thursday, April 1, 2010

TURBO SNAKE: SNAKES IN A DRAIN

Weak stomachs beware, this one is pretty gross.

We were having a little bit of an issue with our bathroom sink, which isn’t altogether surprising since we rented our house out a few years back to people who left it looking like they spent their free time frying chicken in the bedroom. Even after moving back into the house, gutting the bedroom, repainting the bathroom and bleaching every possible surface, we are still finding odd remnants of their inability to live in a modern, industrialized society, with all the trimmings of the good life. Now, I’m not blaming them completely for the clogged drain, after all, drains clog, but I am blaming them for the massive quantity of grunge that was clogging up the drain.

We try to be politically correct and since we have both a well (uphill in the back) and a septic system (downhill in the front) which leaches into our yard (as most septic systems do). As such, we try hard not to put bad things down the sink or onto the lawn (such as it is). We don’t use fertilizers that aren’t 100% manure, we don’t pour paint thinner onto the grass, we don’t use bleach in our laundry and we don’t use toxic chemicals to clear clogged drains. Usually we just ignore them.

We decided that ignoring the problem would not, in fact, make it go away, as is often believed, and thought for a mere $10, it may be worth our while to try out the Turbo Snake. After all, the infomercial makes use look so easy and effective.

The Turbo Snake arrived on what was to become a very irritating day. Nothing seemed to be working quite right and even the beers at 3 pm didn’t raise our spirits. The only thing that seemed to have any effect on the dark cloud, was the anticipation of trying the Turbo Snake, and the possibility that it might work.

The Turbo Snake is an industrious tool designed to clear out your drains without having to deal with the ever-so-intimidating plumber’s snake or ever-so-impertinent toxins. The Turbo Snake comes in two sizes, one for the sink and one for the shower, along with a little sticky hook used to hang them after use. All these items come nicely packaged in a neat little plastic baggie, and you get two sets per order. The Turbo Snake is a thick plastic-coated wire with what appears to be velco’s cousin on the end. This Velcro-type element is designed to catch and remove the nastiness clogging your drain with a simple twist. It’s clever, simple and certain could work.





Fast forward to black-cloud day in the great North East, the neat little plastic baggie sitting on the counter unopened, the anticipation mounting…We enter the bathroom with camera in hand prepared for whatever will follow. We fill up the sink with bubbly water so you, good reader, can see the clog at it’s finest and insert the smaller of the Turbo Snakes.

With just a brief twist and pull that anyone capable of tying their own shoes can do, out came the most disgusting, rotting organic matter known to man. It smelled worse than the septic tank which had recently been pumped. Interestingly enough, with the help of a paper towel, it was easily removed from the Velcro-like substance at the business end of the Turbo Snake. Once the large chunks were gone, after a quick rinse the Turbo Snake was clean enough to wrap up and hang from the little, included sticky hook. Since once wasn’t enough to be believed we had to try again with the tub-sized Turbo Snake. The tub size Turbo Snake is longer and thicker and the Velcro-type item is a little larger, but it worked just as easily.



The Turbo Snake comes wrapped very nicely in its original package and after use is a little difficult to get back into the nice tight little curly-cue. Although this is purely aesthetic in nature, I did try to get the cleaned, used Turbo Snakes back into their original curly form. I was unsuccessful. Despite my utmost attempt, I just couldn’t do it. They ended up both fitting on the hook, albeit, a little askew.

Nonetheless, I would definitely not poo-poo this item based solely on its inability to be returned to its perfect curled state after use. An inexpensive, effective tool that lifted that black cloud and made us both not only smile, but actually laugh out loud. It’s functional and entertaining all in one. Really, what more could you ask for out of a $10 item (with $7 shipping and handling)?

2 comments:

  1. I can't believe this one worked, very cool. Glad it got rid of all the bad things, very bad things in your drain.

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