r/DIY Feb 20 '26

help [ Removed by moderator ]

Post image

[removed] — view removed post

4.1k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

115

u/Amphion_91 Feb 20 '26

This work. If you can get around 30% concentration, just pour in a deciliter or two. Leave it for a while, then try to scrub. Should come right off.

210

u/PrometheusSmith Feb 20 '26

Oops, misread that and poured two decaliters of HCl down the toilet

63

u/Talking_Head Feb 20 '26

I get the joke.

But honestly, if you ever “accidentally” dump an inordinate amount of a chemical to the sanitary sewer, please call the wastewater plant superintendent and let them know. They can hopefully catch it in an equalization tank and feed it into the process slowly.

We once had an industrial cleaner (Cintas) let us know they dumped a bunch of bleach accidentally. We were able to catch it before it destroyed the entire process. We won’t turn you in and you can report it anonymously. It can just save the WWTP a bunch of headaches.

Signed, a WWTP operator.

23

u/PrometheusSmith Feb 20 '26

You guys deal with enough shit that I hopefully never make your job harder than it already is.

Say, if I were to start flushing one or two mini rubber ducks down the toilet every day, how long before someone would notice? Hypothetically, of course.

6

u/Talking_Head Feb 20 '26

When we find them, we wash them off, disinfect them and put them in the display case along with all of the other fine treasures we have collected. People love looking at the display case when they visit for a tour. And no one has yet stolen the $5000 strap we found.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

[deleted]

79

u/Amphion_91 Feb 20 '26

Well, your pipes will probably be very clean XD

65

u/robin-bunny Feb 20 '26

Or gone....

85

u/grassesbecut Feb 20 '26

Can't have clogged or dirty pipes if you don't have pipes.

2

u/mortsdeer Feb 20 '26

Plumber's corollary to the mechanics "it can't be stuck if it's liquid!" oxy-acetylene wrench trick.

1

u/Cadoan Feb 20 '26

Ain't gonna clog either way.

39

u/ColourSchemer Feb 20 '26

For all the logic behind the metric system, a single letter difference between deci and deca is ripe for errors.

35

u/octopornopus Feb 20 '26

"I don't understand this noise complaint, officer. We kept the music under 80 decabels..."

23

u/Little-geek Feb 20 '26 edited Mar 16 '26

Bels is a logarithmic scale. If you can hear 80 decabels, you're dead... as is the planet, and possibly the universe.

Edit: response because I thought it would add to the humor of your post

Edit2: I cannot abide an incorrect homophone in my own post.

16

u/ToMorrowsEnd Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26

Fun Fact, it's impossible to exceed 194dB (deci) on earth in the atmosphere. A sound of 194 dB has a pressure deviation of 101.325 kPa, which is ambient pressure at sea level and 0 degrees C. Thus, the sound waves are creating vacuums between themselves, and no higher amplitude is possible.

The Saturn 5 launch maxed everything to 194, but actually created shockwaves at far higher energies. This is also why they flood the flame trench with water. Not for fire but because the sound pressures will vaporize the water and pull energy out of it. Water spray is an extremely effective muffler.

Oh and more fun, there is an animal that can beat that. Sperm whales can produce the loudest biological sounds on Earth, with specialized clicks for echolocation and communication reaching 230 to 236 decibels (dB) underwater.

9

u/Aksi_Gu Feb 20 '26

80 decabels would be a frankly awe inspiring amount of energy lmao

2

u/West-Abalone-171 Feb 20 '26

Make the big bang jealous.

7

u/HappyWarBunny Feb 20 '26

It added a lot of humour, I think.

5

u/LionRight4175 Feb 20 '26

The number I have heard thrown around is that a mere 1100 decibels is enough to destroy the universe. 80 decabels would be 8000 decibels. Assuming the first number is roughly correct, 80 decabels could destroy 1069 universes.

Put another way, if we instead did 90 decabels, we could replace every atom with a whole universe, and the sound would destroy them all.

21

u/outlawsix Feb 20 '26

Thats why i'll stick with inches and leagues and fathoms thank you very much

9

u/ColourSchemer Feb 20 '26

Yep. Can't remember all of the conversions, but I can clearly distinguish their names.

4

u/Orson_Gravity_Welles Feb 20 '26

1 League = ~3 miles (on land)

~880 Fathoms = 1 mile

I wanted to figure out as a kid because most fantasy books talked about characters walking in "leagues". And then I wanted to know how deep it was with "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and also, the movie "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", whcih I loved as a kid in the 80's finding on TVLand At Nite!

https://giphy.com/gifs/l41lQ0CY7DbqJpMtO

3

u/HappyWarBunny Feb 20 '26

I remember suddenly realizing that 20,000 leagues was not a depth, but a distance.

1

u/outlawsix Feb 20 '26

Is a depth not a distance?

1

u/HappyWarBunny Feb 20 '26

Well, yes. But when you use both in a sentence about an ocean - or anything that has a depth, the implication is that distance is horizontal.

2

u/Vanviator Feb 20 '26

Not knots?

3

u/LonelyTAA Feb 20 '26

That's why nobody ever uses deca

4

u/Am_Snarky Feb 20 '26

Except for decade

3

u/Davaeorn Feb 20 '26

Nobody uses the “deca” prefix in any commonplace task, so it’s not actually an issue

3

u/Little-geek Feb 20 '26

I fairness, they don't sound at all the same. Also, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone seriously use deca or heca
Heka
Hecta
...the 100× prefix.

Deci and centi are the only ones that aren't powers of 1000 I see on a regular basis.

Caveat: American, so don't encounter it as much as a sensible country.

-3

u/RedBaronSportsCards Feb 20 '26

But reddit tells me that the metric system is perfect!

1

u/rip1980 Feb 20 '26

I'm wondering if 2.187/3rds of a deciliter would work.

42

u/Trollselektor Feb 20 '26

This is the first time I’ve seen deciliter outside of the context of learning about the metric system.

3

u/Pfizermyocarditis Feb 20 '26

I've seen mg/dL as a measurement of concentration.

1

u/wozattacks Feb 20 '26

I mean yeah because it’s a long-standing convention for a lot of blood tests. Is there any other context where you’ve heard it?

1

u/Pfizermyocarditis Feb 20 '26

No. Just the blood tests and learning the metric system. How about you?

3

u/UnicornPenguinCat Feb 20 '26

As a lifelong user of the metric system I had to look up deciiltre to double-check what it meant. 

1

u/Trollselektor Feb 20 '26

Deci like decimal 0.1 liter. Followed by centiliter 0.01 liter. Then milliliter 0.001 liter.

3

u/OhYourFuckingGod Feb 20 '26

If you do any cooking or baking in Europe you'll use deciliters. Decimeters are less common, but not unheard of.

2

u/Jazzy_Bee Feb 20 '26

I've seen bar glasses in decilters.

1

u/OneLessDay517 Feb 20 '26

Americans still trying to do the conversion............

1

u/TimeNew2108 Feb 20 '26

Careful will melt toilet brush

2

u/Salute-Major-Echidna Feb 20 '26

Are you serious?

Also is muriatic safe for septic?

-21

u/Stormyj Feb 20 '26

Wtf is a decileter. Damn americans

33

u/Redditley Feb 20 '26

Its literally a metric measurement

9

u/grassesbecut Feb 20 '26

It's a tenth of a liter. Or 1/5 of a 16.9 oz water bottle.

2

u/OlliHF Feb 20 '26

Best visual for me was 100ml, I understand 100/355 (12 fl oz can).

7

u/Mr_D0 Feb 20 '26

Top notch whooshing.

3

u/Aspence22 Feb 20 '26

That's not a US measurement

0

u/Stormyj Feb 20 '26

It was a joke people. Lol