As a plumber, one of the questions I get asked all the time is, “Can I really flush flushable wipes?” The answer might surprise you.

I’ve done tests on flushable wipes before, but it was really just comparing one brand of wipes to baby wipes and regular toilet paper. In order to get a better answer for people, I decided to test 10 different brands of flushable wipes to really see how flushable they are.

Now when we’re talking about “flushable,” what we really mean is, does it break down? Or will it stay a solid mass in the sewer system? So, we tested three elements: how well does it tear, how well does it flush, and how well does it break down?

First was the tear test. Of the 10 brands we tested, there wasn’t a huge difference between them. Most of them tore about the same rate. So based on this test alone, they all came out looking good. What didn’t tear the same was the baby wipe. Baby wipes have a coating on them for durability that prevents them from tearing easily. They actually say they’re not flushable, so definitely don’t flush them.

Next, we did the flush test. We wanted to see if any of the wipes would break apart when flushed, or if any of them would create a clog right off the bat. This is another test where there wasn’t much difference between the wipes. This time we just used a short pipe without much friction, but everything came out just fine.

Our final test was designed to see how well each wipe breaks down. To do this, we left each one in a jar of water for 24 hours, then came back and shook up the jars to simulate what it would be like to send them through a sewer system. This is where we finally started to see some differences!

Some of the wipes held their shape pretty well and didn’t break down much. In fact, they held together welll enough that I would be concerned if they went through a system with old pipes or tree roots that could snag the wipes. Some broke down but still left clumps. And a couple of them broke down almost as well as the toilet paper we tested!

So now we come back to our original question: Can you really flush flushable wipes? Well, the answer is, it depends on which one. Flushable wipes are not all created equal. There are also some plumbers that will tell you to NEVER use flushable wipes. Ever. Personally, I’m sticking with Cottonelle. They broke down the best and were the most like toilet paper.

Or better yet, switch to a bidet!