theITbaby

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Informative

How to handle an overflowing Diaper Genie

The Diaper Genie EliteAs you have probably noticed if you’ve read the site for a while, I called the Diaper Genie Elite the Fail Pail because I spend more time repairing problems on them than I probably do putting diapers into them.

Problems so far have included a lid that popped up and couldn’t be put back, broken pegs on the inside which caused the diaper-airlock to fail, issues with bad Playtex brand refills where the plastic bag was fused into itself, unmarked bag ends, and a hoary host of other things.

Due to the inability to see when the Diaper Genie is nearing full we’ve run into several occasions where we’re dealing with a baby, a completely loaded diaper, and a messy situation. The general method of resolve is to slap the filthy diaper at the top, and move on and get to it when your hands aren’t full with a wriggling infant.

So what do you do with the Diaper Genie overflows? Remember that with the way it’s designed there’s no way to push the dirty diaper past the gates unless you can open them, which you can’t due to dirty diapers jamming them.

Full Diaper Genie with a little plastic on top so you don't have to see my baby's diapers
Full Diaper Genie with a little plastic on top so you don’t have to see my baby’s diapers. In this case due to no markings visible on the bag, the plastic bag has fallen inside.

Your first step is to get a plastic trash bag. Place it over the top of the Diaper Genie until it covers the entire body of the can. Flip it upside down, tie the trash bag, and throw the Diaper Genie away. You will never have the continuing stream of problems that have plagued me for over a year with two separate fail pails.

Failing that, if for some reason you want to keep this least-effort-applied item in your house, push the lid to the top closed, open the base of the unit, reach up and pull the bag through as though you’re changing the thing.

Cut the bag at the right end, tie off and remove. Tie the new bag at the base, close everything up, and you should now be able to push the last diapers into the new bag. If all works correctly you shouldn’t have a lot of baby waste on you.

Then throw the Diaper Genie away and get yourself this, and buy us one as well.

Paul King

Paul King lives in Nashville Tennessee with his wife, two daughters and cats. He writes for Pocketables, theITBaby, and is an IT consultant along with doing tech support for a film production company.