Bag stretching

My mom and her sister would take new bags into the kitchen Ang hang them on the cabinet knobs over the sink then take a tea kettle off the stove when it started to whistle and fill the latex bag with it. Then the would have coffee as the bag hung there and add more hot water from the kettle as the bag stretched.If it was a closed top bag the would fill it and let it stretch adding more hot water from the kettle. Then put the water bottle plug in and put in a towel on the counter and lean on it. The latex bags they would drain some water off then with dish washing gloves twist the latex neck of the bag with the clamp on the tube barley open pushing the water out slowly stretching the bags volume. I wonder how much more volume that streamed a bag to ? They had an assembly line doing there bags that way it seemed a quartly ritual.

That seems... risky? I'm no specialist, but it seems to me that water hot enough to allow a latex bag to stretch is starting the melting process to the point of softening and thinning the rubber. That could easily lead to weak spots or leaks.

Why not just buy a bag the size you want?

Well for many years all that was commonly found were 2 quarts max. bags. And no internet to search

I don't know about permanent stretching but I have a standard red, closed top 2 qt bag. if I backfill it it holds just under 2 1/2 quarts and that hasn't changed over the years so it would seem that my bag is not getting permanently stretched by the practice. probably a good thing because I'd be afraid of the thing eventually bursting. that being said I would enjoy having a 4 qt bag. 😃

@chamed said,

Well for many years all that was commonly found were 2 quarts max.

I grew up in the late forties thru the early sixties. My grandmother was a retired RN and had a variety of different size douche/enema bags. They ranged in volume from one quart to three quarts and came in a variety of different types and styles. She had both open and closed top bags ranging in size from one quart to two & half quarts. The three-quart bag she had was a pumpkin style douche/enema bag. And I was on the receiving end of that three-quart pumpkin bag more than once as she snaked a 24-inch colon tube up inside me.

Rick but she might have had access to medical suppliers as compared to standard drug stores? And i agree there were many styles available

@chamed said,

Rick but she might have had access to medical suppliers as compared to standard drug stores?

Sorry, but everything she had, came from her local drug store. Now you’ve got to remember, drug stores in the fifties carried a lot more inventory than drug stores do today or even thirty years ago.

I remember the one near me had a small set of drawers. One had a variety of enema nozzles. another douche nozzles another with shut off clamps etc plus a couple of reels of hoses you could by by the foot

In the 70s I had a latex douche bag with a molded white rubber throat that I used for my enemas. It nominally held two quarts, but over time it stretched with use and finally held 2.5 quarts. When it came time to replace it, that style of bag no longer was available. I tried to intentionally expand the latex bags then available, but with limited success. I had better results pressure filling a rubber combination bag.

Before great sites like Klystra I would siphon fill my combination bag until it was bulging with 4 qts. of very hot water. I suppose that counts. (It’s really hard to find quality equipment these days)😈I loved perusing drug stores back in the day for any enema related things😍

Do realize the money that could be made just on the manufacturing of two quart pink or amber simple latex bags now, with the rubbery long, flexible hoses? You can count me in right now. They were very sexy and convenient for a douche or an enema!