What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[saysfaa]

The cap is behind the siphon jet rather than in the rim channel. That probably doesn't affect the options but in case it does there is that.

This picture is a diagram of the model we have. The cap is where I put red and where we think the water goes is green. We think it goes around the right side of the bowl and the picture shows"The water also goes to the rim channel.

A minute and ten seconds into this video is the best animation that we could find of the water path in model we have.

This Old House has a good video of how a siphon toilet works.

The only shop vac I have is the smallest one they made. Do you think that might work?

I can try it in the blow mode. Dh has a thing about vacuuming water into it even though it is made for that so we won't be using it wet.

 

[saysfaa]

The next best alternative we'd thought of so far is to run a garden hose through the house to the toilet. Then plug the side jets, and the drain hole, around the end of the hose. And take the flapper off. Then turn the hose on up siphon jet.

Or run a flexible tube down the flapper hole, through the toilet, past the cap and out the siphon hole. Drain the toilet. Wait until everything is dry, dab super glue on the end of the tubing. Then try to hit the cap with the glue spot. Let that cure. Then pull the tubing out through the flapper hole.

 

[saysfaa]

I like the grabber thing if the stick part is long enough and flexible enough to reach the cap through the flapper opening.

Edit to add - the longest grabber I saw is about 19" but I don't know if that is long enough.

 

[gtaus]

Again, I am not a plumber and I don't have your model of toilet. But there are few things I think I can answer.

I like the shop vac idea

That sounded promising. I agree. Depends on where that cap is stuck and how it's stuck.

The only shop vac I have is the smallest one they made. Do you think that might work?

I have shop vacs as small as 1 gallon. It is pretty strong. It would not hurt to try.

I can try it in the blow mode. Dh has a thing about vacuuming water into it even though it is made for that so we won't be using it wet.

I have used wet/dry shop vacs for ~40 years. They are made to handle vacuuming up water with no damage to the shop vac. However, most of my vacs have a dry screen around the main filter that needs to be removed before you use it to suck up water. If you still have the owner's manual for your wet/dry vac, that should tell you how to prep it for wet vacuuming. Or, you could probably look up the manual online. It's really not a big deal.

Edit to add - the longest grabber I saw is about 19" but I don't know if that is long enough.

Yeah, the Harbor Freight pickup grabber is 24 inches long. If that is not long enough, I found this 63 inch long pickup grabber on Amazon....

Although I'm sure you can't stick your head down into the toilet, can you empty it of all water and get a mirror down there to see? There are inspections mirrors that might help you see what's going on....

I have an inspection mirror (without a light) and found it quite useful in a limited number of repairs. I certainly like the idea of it with a light built in.

Another option to help see what's going on might be an inspection scope. You stick it down the pipe and just look around for the obstruction...

Is it possible for you to go to a store where they sell your model and check out the flow of water on a dry toilet? I'm just trying to imagine if you need to suck or blow that cap out.

I wish I could be more helpful, but I have never had your type of toilet and it's just hard for me to understand how that cap got into the water path and why it cannot clear itself. Seems like some kind of design flaw to me.

I hope you can fix it yourself. Where I live, it's about $200.00 for a plumber to show up at the door.

I see the tornado toilets can range from $200.00 to over $1000.00. It's not a really big deal to replace a toilet, but maybe it is a little intimidating if you have never done it. If you can't clear that cap without completely removing your toilet, I was thinking that maybe you could temporarily install an inexpensive toilet while you try to fix your tornado flush toilet...

Or, if you have multiple toilets in the house, maybe just disconnect the one with the problem, remove it, and put it on the workbench to see if you can find a way to clear the cap. Best wishes.

 

[saysfaa]

Shop vac did not get it out.

But it no longer blocks the siphon hole and it didn't come back with a test flush. I can't tell where it is or how much it interferes with the flow of water during a flush.

So, we will probably just live with it at least long enough to see if flushing is ever compromised enough to matter as long as it stays wherever it is.

Or we might try to float it out with the garden hose idea tomorrow. It is either tomorrow or next spring for that. We won't want to try that during winter weather.

 

[gtaus]

Roadside Giveaway! Your trash, my treasure?

The other day I was coming back from town heading out to my house. I noticed that someone had put out a couple of tables of stuff and a great big sign indicating "FREE." Where I live, this is pretty unusual. Rummage sale signs are everywhere in the summer months, but giving stuff away from free is rare. What's more, I saw that it was garage stuff - not clothes - out on the tables.

Anyways, I pulled in to look over what was on the tables. Mostly excess garage stuff that is probably just taking up room if you no longer needed it. But they had a 5-gallon bucket that was in good shape so I picked that up and used it to hold a number of miscellaneous items that I thought I could use.

I ended up getting partial packs of nuts and bolts, wire nuts, screws, etc... Not enough parts by themselves to probably do a big project, but I have organized most of these type of small parts into storage cases I bought from Harbor Freight...

I had no problem picking up partial packs of those nuts and bolts, screws, wire nuts, etc... and just add them to my existing supply in the storage cases.

They also had a couple older electric (corded) chainsaws with extra chains sitting on a table. One had a 14-inch bar, and the other was a 16-inch chainsaw. They were both well used. I had no idea if they still worked, or not, but I thought I would pick them up because, at worse, I might be able to reuse the bar and chains on my working chainsaws at home. Also, I have a nice little chainsaw sharpener at home and that can take a dull chain and make it like almost new...

Frugal tip: Sharpen your chainsaw chains at home and save lots of money!

That's another Harbor Freight special which I bought years ago for around $25.00. I used to bring my chains into the shop for sharpening (about $15.00 each chain), but now I do it at home. I have sharpened close to $200.00 in chains at home with that machine. No complaints. It has saved me lots of money avoiding the fees at the shop in town.

You can buy manual file kits for chainsaw sharpening and do it yourself, saving even more money. But I have a number of chainsaws and at $15.00 per sharpening service fee at the shop, I only had to work on 2 chains to get my money's worth. The machine just works so much faster and easier. It was worth the extra money over a manual file kit for me. Like I said, I have sharpened maybe close to $200.00 worth of chains at home instead of paying the local shop for the service.

The 16-inch chainsaw was an old Craftsman model. I plugged that in and it worked as good as new. So, I will just clean it up and put it into storage for use later. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it ran and how much power you could feel when you pressed the trigger. Back in the day, grandpa only bought Craftsman, as did my dad, and I started out buying Craftsman as well for their known quality tools. Unfortunately, we don't even have a Sear's anymore in town. Anyway, hat's off to Craftsman for building an electric chainsaw that is working as good as new ~30 years later.

The other chainsaw was an old Poulon Pro EL-14 Patriot 14-inch chainsaw....

Unfortunately, that Poulon chainsaw did not run when I pressed the trigger.

I had to look up the parts manual online and discovered that there is a lock out switch on that chainsaw - which appears to have been broken off on the chainsaw I got for free. It was a mid 1990's chainsaw, and you can't get any parts for it anymore. I might have to take off the bar and chain and see if it will work on my current 14-inch chainsaws.

Frankly, I was surprised that either chainsaw worked. I was expecting to salvage the bar and chains and not much more. Given the age of the chainsaws (mid-1990s) and the relatively low cost of corded chainsaws, it's not worth spending much time or energy to get the Poulon chainsaw running again. But I might take off the cover next year and see if that lock out switch can be fixed, or not, before I save that bar and chain for extra parts and toss out the chainsaw head.

Frugal tip: Keep extra plastic bags and moving blankets in your car to take advantage of unexpected free pickups.

The chainsaws I picked up were well used and had bar oil all over the chainsaw. No way could I put that into our SUV without getting oil on everything. Fortunately, I had some large plastic bags I keep in the car for such things. I wrapped each chainsaw into a plastic bag and protected the car's interior from leaking bar oil as I took them home.

I have picked up a number of FREE moving blankets from Harbor Freight over the past year or so...

I keep a couple of those blankets in each car. You just never know when you need to throw one down to protect the carpet or the plastic molding in the car when you transport something. When I had my old Ford Explorer pickup, that was never a concern. But the Explorer had to be junked this summer and now I only have a couple of SUV's that we drive. No way does Dear Wife want the SUV interior oiled up or ripped transporting stuff that I used to do with the pickup.

Anyways, part of a frugal lifestyle is being prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they do come up. No way could I have picked up those old, oily chainsaws and put them in the car had I not kept extra-large plastic bags or a moving blanket just for such uses.

 

[Sally PB]

Frugal tip: Keep extra plastic bags and moving blankets in your car to take advantage of unexpected free pickups.

I have a plastic tote in the trunk of the car that will contain mess or spills, and it gives a lot of piece of mind for transporting messy stuff. And also corralling bags of groceries that might tip over and spill.

A jug of milk falling over and splitting in the tote? Ok, I'm out the cost of a jug of milk. One cuss word. If the milk is all over the trunk... Many cuss words!

Anyways, part of a frugal lifestyle is being prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they do come up.

This! Exactly! You learn what kinds of things to keep handy for just this reason. Bags, blankets, totes, a partial roll of paper towel, gloves. I've had reason to use any and all of them.

 

[McChooky]

I shred almost all our paper and light weight food-box type cardboard for chicken coop deep bedding litter. Works great. Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips? Lots of good comments in that thread on reusing paper products. Paper shreds go into the chicken run compost system after the coop. Then the finished chicken run compost gets added to my garden beds to grow people food.

I use heavy cardboard as floor mats to work under our cars. Makes a good surface to paint things on. Can be used as a weed barrier for pathways, etc... Use it also for covering the compost in my pallet wood compost bins. Soiled or dirty cardboard will be saved and used in a fire pit when I burn out a stump.

I bag all my grass clippings and dump them into the chicken run compost. The chickens will eat some fresh greens, and the rest will be mixed in with the compost and breakdown over time.

All my tree leaves get mowed up and tossed into the chicken run.

Most of my branches and fallen trees either get chipped up to make wood chips for the chickens or if too big, they get used in a hügelkultur raised garden bed.

Kitchen scraps and leftovers get fed to the chickens. If something gets moldy, then I dump it into the pallet wood compost bins. Very little food products ever get tossed into our trash.

We try to buy grocery products with minimal packing, or if possible, in reusable plastic containers. We buy some products in Tupperware-like containers that we use over and over again until they break and fall apart.

I save the plastic lids from food containers to use to mix up epoxy and stuff like that. Get one more use out of them before throwing them away in the trash.

We take advantage of our local recycling bins to discard our plastics, metals, and glass that we can't find a second life at home.

Between reusing whatever we can at home, and recycling excess materials, we have gone from about 3 kitchen sized garbage bags per week to maybe 2 or 3 bags per month. That's how I measure our progress.

Last summer I started making pallet wood projects. Show Me Your Pallet Projects! Lots of good ideas on using pallet wood and reclaimed lumber. I am mainly building garden beds and planters, but others have built lots of other projects. Instead of hauling off used lumber to the landfill, I reclaim and reuse most of the wood I get. It takes some time, but I think it's worth it. The odd bits and pieces of lumber that I cannot use, I burn in a fire pit when I burn out stumps. So nothing gets tossed into a landfill.

What we don't do well: Dear Wife insists on buying plastic bottled water and will not consider using a reusable drink container or refilling the plastic bottles. It's a shame because we have a fresh water well that provides fantastic drinking water. But she has bought into the notion that drinking water has to come in a bottle.

My mansplaining to her about that issue has had no effect. If I had any idea of how to use those empty water bottles, I would not feel so bad. However, the empties currently get tossed into the plastic recycle bin.

Ditto for most of our plastic food bottles which don't get reused. Glass jars don't have much of a second life around here, either. But, fortunately, all that stuff is put into our recycle bins.




I need suggestions of ways to reuse my feed bags. I have 3+ years of saved feed bags to put to use. Currently, I just cut them open and use them as a workbench covering when I am doing a glue up project, painting, or working with something oily. I have lots of feed bags to be used for something.



That sounds like a good idea. I live on a lake, but if you lived somewhere with water ration concerns, no need to waste all that water.



I started going to a Senior Citizen's cooking class. Our instructor suggested that we save all the juice from canned vegetables, put it in a container in the freezer, and then use all that vegetable juice for homemade soups. Like she says, you paid for all that juice, you might as well use it in something good to eat. Anyways, I have made one homemade vegetable soup using the saved juices from canned vegetables and it was fantastic. No more straining out the juice down the kitchen drain.

If we have canned fruit that we need to strain, we strain it into a glass and drink it later. Works great for the Pineapple juice and fruit cocktail cans.



I am semi-retired, and don't have to use my car very often. I am currently driving my 1993 Ford Explorer, which only gets about 13 mpg. But I only put on maybe 100 miles per month. So, I figure I do more for the environment by keeping the old car in service and not having to have a new car manufactured to replace it. Also, maintaining the old car keeps it out of the dead car dumps. I'll probably drive that Explorer until I can't fix it anymore. I got my money's worth out of it years ago, so no tears if/when I have to send it off.

If I end up getting another job, then I'll have to get a different car. I just don't want to get into a situation where I need a job to pay for a car that I need to get me to my job. Did that as a teenager...

Also, I take care of my belongings and they tend to last a long time. I guess that results in less need for new products and therefore maybe helps the environment in a small way. It sure reduces the amount of stuff that we throw away each year.

I hope this thread takes off because I am saving way more items than I currently have ideas on how to reuse them.

Car payments,drivers license fees,insurance,deductibles,automobile inspections,registration and tags,gas oil,tires,parking fees,tolls,taxes and maintenance is $1000-1500 .Tickets and court costs are extra.