Suck lost items right out of the drain

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. That's the case with a gem I encountered from Family Hack, a blog created by the Davis family of Charlottesville, Va. At least that's the family's home base, although they spends much of their time traveling — the subject of the blog.

Dad Michael Davis figured out a way to use a wet/dry shop vacuum to remove objects dropped down a sink drain. A video of his technique is making the e-mail rounds.

Davis slips a leg from a pair of pantyhose over the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner's hose and sticks the nozzle over the drain opening after removing the stopper. The nylon keeps the item from being sucked into the machine. If the item is heavy, plug the drain hole first to increase the suction, he recommends. Don't use a regular vacuum cleaner, because it's not made for use in a wet environment and could present a shock hazard. When you're finished, run water into the drain to refill the trap and keep sewer gases from backing up into the room.

Davis said the idea hit him after he was roused one morning by his 6-year-old daughter, who had dropped a bottle cap into the drain. He didn't want to walk all the way to the basement to get his tools, and he was inspired when he spotted his shop vac, which was sitting out during a painting project.

"I was literally in a pre-coffee fog," he said. The video has been posted on the site since 2007, but Davis said it went viral in early May when someone distributed it by e-mail. You can see it at www.familyhack.com. Look in the videos section.