Readers offer their best tips for unclogging drains without the help of chemicals, getting the gunk off your gift cards, and taking panoramic photos on your smartphone.
Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons?maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in?the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.
Use a Shop Vac to Unclog a Drain Without Chemicals
Adam Elbaum shares an alternative method for unclogging a stubborn drain:
Supposedly all those chemicals (like Drano) are bad for your pipes, but more importantly they're expensive. A much better way to unclog your drains is to use a shop vac. Simply remove the stopper (or metal grate if it's the shower) and put the shop vac hose in or around the opening. Let it run for 5 minutes and the drain will run good as new when you're finished.
It may seem like you don't have a very good seal, but a good seal isn't necessary and may actually be counter-productive. You don't want to create a perfect vacuum seal because it may try to suck water out of the sewer at that point. When I do my shower I'm able to thread the hose down the drain a little, with my sink I just hold it directly over the drain. Just make sure you use a shop vac not a regular vacuum because it may pull a little water and you don't want to damage your vacuum.
Photo by telemal.
Easily Clean Up Silver Dust from Scratch-Off Gift Cards
Emax41 figures out a better way to avoid gift card gunk:
Got a gift card? Hate cleaning up the scratch-off reside on Amazon Gift Cards and others?
First, take the gummy, booger-like material off. After scratching the silver material off of the other code, you'll find it leaves behind fine silver dust, similar to a lottery scratch-off ticket. I was able to run the gummy material over it and on the residue that went on the table and got the majority of it off!
Photo by See-Ming Lee.
Take Vertical Panoramic Shots with Your Smartphone
Audiopocalypse notes that the iPhone's panorama mode can work in any orientation:
Obvious but not: you can utilize Panoramic photo taking apps vertically. If you are trying to take a picture of something tall, just hold the phone sideways and rotate upwards.
Use GitHub (and Similar Tools) to Track Household Repairs
Fred finds another way to keep track of his household projects:
I read this trick on Hacker News where a guy used GitHub's Issue Tracker to track household repairs like the thermostat not working or a broken ceiling light. That way he can keep track of what has and hasn't been done, tag things, and other people can even comment on it. It seems a little silly (and you could always just use a regular to-do app), but I'm sure people could find some clever uses for it.
You can see the original example here, though the commenters over at Hacker News have some other cool ideas about how you could track these things.
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