It’s a heart-stopping moment. You’re washing your hands and your wedding ring slides off your finger into the sink and down the drain before you can react. You meant to get that ring sized, but kept putting it off. Now it seems that it’s too late. As your local drain cleaning plumber, we get calls frequently from panicked customers who find themselves in this type of situation. While each situation is different, here are some things you can try to recover your lost jewelry.

Use a Magnet to for Jewelry Stuck in a Toilet

If you’ve lost a piece of jewelry down the toilet, do not flush. Purchase a heavy-duty magnet instead. Attach the magnet tightly to a piece of string and try lowering it into the drain. If the jewelry hasn’t moved into the piping past the drain, you may get lucky and be able to retrieve it this way.

Take Apart the P-trap and J-bend

When jewelry is lost in a kitchen or bathroom sink, dismantling the exposed part of piping is an option. Before you begin, turn off the water supply to the sink. Doing this will make it harder for the item to be pushed farther into the plumbing system. Next, take apart the p-trap and j-bend. If you’re lucky, the piece of jewelry may be sitting there waiting to be recovered and returned to your finger, neck, or wrist.

Can Drain Cleaning Service Retrieve My Jewelry?

Unfortunately, drain cleaning service isn’t going to be very useful for recovering your jewelry or other lost items. This plumbing service is designed to push things through the system, not retrieve them. However, if you can’t locate your lost item, you may want to call a drain cleaning company like Tucson Discount Plumbers to clean the drain and remove anything that could clog the system.

We know how devastating it can be to lose a precious item down the drain. One of the best ways to prevent this is by storing jewelry outside of the kitchen and bathroom. If you wear rings or other jewelry in the shower, consider installing a shower drain cap to prevent small items from going down the drain.