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Blocked Toilet. Tips to deal with blocked clogged toilets

If your toilet is very slow in going down, or it won't flush at all anymore you may have a bad clog. You can start fixing this clog by using your trusty plunger. Plunging down the water forces the clog to move a bit and if it isn't really that bad you will see the water all go down.

Sometimes you may need more help, a snake is going to do the job. A snake is just a fancy name for a long metal piece, that will snake its way down your drain and loosen any clogs!

There are many fancy plungers on the market at the moment. Even the most expensive of these plungers is a fraction of what it would cost to call out a plumber so it is well worth you having a go. You will find your local plumbing store stocks all of these.

Visitors comments

Poor Information Comments By: anon The article did not elaborate on using a product to use or put into the stool to help clear the clog. A product that would eat away the build up of the clog.   Clogged Toilet Comments By: jawilliams The information given was useless. There was no explanation on how to unclog a toilet. TipKing says: Read the tip it states that a plunger or snake (available at hardware stores) will solve most clogs.   tip on eating away clog... Comments By: rob is necessary here..need advice on what household remedies other than a plunger would help.. TipKing says: I hope that a visitor can help here   Toilet blockage Comments By: Grenville After spending a good quarter of an hour sticking my arm down the drain outside and wetting all my sleeve into the bargain, my wife followed your tip with the next best thing: a toilet brush rammed down the toilet and solved the problem in seconds. A plunger would obviously have been even better. Must get one soon!   not much use Comments By: anon yes I also tried to toilet brush tip. It did work, but there must have been some residue so it's blocked up again. Will have to try the trusty plunger I suppose   SLOW DRAINING TOILET Comments By: Loretta Our toilet is perpetually slow draining and sometimes requires a 2nd flush ~ we've tried the snake, the plunger. Are there any additional tricks in your basket? Thanks   Slow to drain Comments By: brent If the toilet is slow to drain it could be a blockage if old pipes its more likely to be tree roots that have found their way into the clay pipes in this case it often means the pipes need to be dug up and cleared as they will keep blocking as they will grow back.New plastic piping is harder for tree roots to access.   Boiling water Comments By: Gina Boiling huge pots of water and pouring them directly into the commode can help dissolve clogs as well. It will more than likely take more than a pot or two,but is worth the effort.   loo blockage Comments By: diyer Had a recent blockage and tried all the tips, plungers etc. Nothing worked until we opened up the nearest manhole and found it was full of water and other objects. Bought some drain rods, quite cheap and cleared the blockage beyond the manhole, not between the manhole and the loo! Not a pleasant task but not as bad as you might think. Used a good pair of plastic gauntlets and cleaned up well after. Fortunately no sign of tree roots or pipe damage or would have needed a specialist.   Bah!! Comments By: Rakesh Quite worthless   Bog Clog Comments By: ajay Best tiolet unclog I ever did was - in utter desparation - use a Mop. One woosh and the blockage completely cleared, and has never since been a problem   Unblocking a toilet Comments By: Ian Using hot water may help but be very careful that the water is not too hot, if it is and poured into a porcelain bowel it may crack.   nice one Comments By: Russell Lee Whats to argue, it worked. Nice one! for us novicea (me) simple information is the best!   Not elaborating enough Comments By: British man This does not go into any detail whatsoever. However, I have am excellent tip for all you clogged toilet mates. I would strongly recommend all you chaps use the "dishwasher and hot water" tip. THIS IS ONLY IF YOUR LOO IS NOT OVERFLOWING. First, put in a good jolly amount of dishwasher soap. Then, pour about a rubbish bin of hot or boiling water into your loo. Then, wait 15 minutes and flush. You may have to repeat. Thank you!   Not elaborating enough Comments By: British man This does not go into any detail whatsoever. However, I have am excellent tip for all you clogged toilet mates. I would strongly recommend all you chaps use the "dishwasher and hot water" tip. THIS IS ONLY IF YOUR LOO IS NOT OVERFLOWING. First, put in a good jolly amount of dishwasher soap. Then, pour about a rubbish bin of hot or boiling water into your loo. Then, wait 15 minutes and flush. You may have to repeat. Thank you!   This will work Comments By: juju pour dishwashing iiquid into your clogged toilet. Let it sit for 15 min then plunge at least 2 times then flush.   Blocked Toilets Comments By: Plumber Pete The pipe from the toilet is 4 inch,dont put anything bigger then that down the toilet and you will have no problem   well done ajay Comments By: john wirral the good old mop worked plus washing up powder,and hot water,nearly paid 15.78 for plunger/gas appliance,glad i did not now   blocked toilet Comments By: nov the mop worked for me thank you for the advice   When all else fails, try Coke! Comments By: Julie B We recently had a severely blocked toilet and nothing worked to unblock it. I was reluctant to call the plumber out at vast cost. My cousin suggested I pour down 2 litres of Coke, real Coke not Coke Zero or Diet Coke. I was sceptical but worth a try and it worked! After 30 minutes the toilet was completely cleared.   Ammonia Comments By: jaytea If the plunger doesn't work on first try, then pour a couple cups of ammonia in the t bowl, let it set for a while, then boil several teapots of water, pour them into t bowl one after another, if that doesn't work, then try the plunger again, then boil some more water if necessary, but this should do it.   I used a similar principle to the mop Comments By: Paul Hi, thanks to those who suggesred a mop etc. I don't have a mop nut found an empty plastic round container that mini bites etc are sold in. Stuck my arm in a rubbish bag as the water would come above any gloves and used the container like a plunger. Alternatively I would have used an unwanted garment to create the pressure needed.   Diet Coke does work!!! Comments By: Vanessa We tried the hot water to unblock the loo (as we have in the past) but to no avail this time. We had Diet Coke cans in the house so poured 4 of them in & an hour later.....WOOOOOSH!!!! Away with the blockage! Fixed & very happy :-)   cheers for the mop tip.... Comments By: happy toilet unblocked 2 plunges down toilet with mop and there was a horrible noise and the water vaished nice1   Brillant Comments By: Anon Thanks for the tip on dishwasher liquid and coke. Didn't have liquid but used disolved tablets in hot water instead. Left for 1/2 hour as suggested and then with a loud woosh it cleared. Just for added measure used the coke as well. Must have the cleanest pipes in the village. No plumber for me.   No Coke Comments By: Anon Hey, I tried 4 cans of regular Coke, waited four hours and no luck. Will try hot dishwashing soap next...   the Mop Comments By: Happy housewife Fab tip worked and absolute treat, Yeah ++++   mop job Comments By: Happy Househusband tried mop - fantastic - worked in 30 secs. & have already spent £100 saved on new shirts for me!   The Mop Rules Comments By: Mrs Mop Thank goodness I found this site! Had a blocked toilet, been struggling all day to unblock it and the bowl of water was at the rim (very unpleasant). Then read on here about using a mop, and hey presto the blockage was gone within 2 minutes! Genius!   Mop does work Comments By: anon Spent hours trying to unblock loo then tried mop. Water was up to rim, put in mop, twisted it so it went as far down as it could then lifted it up and down a few times,it made a noise then all water ran down pan fast. This took 1 minute to unblock, thanks for the tip.   blocked toilet Comments By: joanne my toilet had been blocked for 3days looked on this site and got the advice to use a mop worked excellent thank you was amazed at the results   plunger Comments By: mr jiffy exclnt tip. After 20 mins figtin da mes i took da tip n gues wot it workd. Thnk u   Mop won't fit Comments By: Anon Well...damn! The mop tip sounds pretty successful, but am I the only one who has a toilet the mop won't fit in? The pipe goes up then down...not straight down. I've tried everything else to save money...dishwashing liquid, hot water, ammonia, coke, etc. You name it. I quess I gotta come out the pocket.   Mop won't fit Comments By: Anon Well...damn! The mop tip sounds pretty successful, but am I the only one who has a toilet the mop won't fit in? The pipe goes up then down...not straight down. I've tried everything else to save money...dishwashing liquid, hot water, ammonia, coke, etc. You name it. I guess I gotta come out the pocket.   MOP IS GOD Comments By: Dmo I've tried everything from plunging toan auger at all access points. I have a toilet bowl that because of the shape, a plunger won't work because it doesn't seal properly. The mop took care of my clog in a jiffy. Thanks for the tip guys! Excellent site!   Oh poo! Comments By: jen I have used a coathanger in the past successfully, but not this time, the blockage lasted all night, so this morning after getting courage and inspiration from this site I poured in a second lot of dishwashing liquid and tried again with a stronger coathanger, kept moving it, and in 5 mins it had cleared. Great tips here, I was about to reluctantly try the mop method, but they all sound worth trying!   The dishwasher tip Comments By: Sam I suspended the buoy in the WC tank so that I was in control of the flow of water...I then mixed up some 3 Finish tabs with a touch of bleach and hot water several times (just enough to fill the bowl). After several goes of the water filtering down the loo, I released the buoy and flushed properly and it worked OK. Not sure how permanent this fix will be but it was enough to allow the flow of water as normal for the time. Would recommend.   The mop does work Comments By: anon I tried the mop and at first and nothing happened. I decided to rinse it in the sink and watched in horror as the water level in the loo rose higher and higher. Once I unplugged the sink there a big woosh and the water cleared away. For good measure put down the dishwasher tablets with a kettle of boiling water and it seems to have done the trick! Brilliant tip - thank you   Just a bucket of cold water Comments By: Anon For the brave of heart If the water in the bowl is low - fill a bucket with cold water. Lift it above the bowl to approximately chest height and tip it down the bowl in one swift motion. The pressure of the water coming down from height is guaranteed to move the most stubborn blockage. Well almost all.   This is it! Comments By: Relieved, twice Our low profile toilet was blocked after an hour long ordeal. I tried the plunger. No luck. My husband tried the snake and auger but gave up after struggling for an hour. We were about to call in the plumber but he did not return our call. I decided to look to the internet and found your site. I have a large bottle of Pepsi but no Coke, so I tried the dishwashing detergent. I dissolved about a cup of powder in some cold water and poured it into the bowl. Then I heated up a large pan of boiling water and poured it into the bowl, covering it up with the lid. I let it sit for an hour and then used the toilet brush to do some piston action. I flushed,and wah-la! It was just as good or even better than the relief I felt which got us into this mess in the first place. A first-rate hint.   Phew at last! Comments By: Anon Having read everyone's comments I decided to try everything. I poured down a bottle of coke and thirty mins later plunged. Then went down 2 pots of boiling water with dishwasher detergent. Then plunged. Suddenly had brainwave to plunge loo while blocking off all other plugholes and overflows in bathroom so water/air had nowhere else to escape and hey presto it worked!   Coke worked!! Comments By: peter mills We haad a blocked toilet for 2 days then I read the tips given and tried them, the mop, dishwasher liquid and lastly the bottle of Coke and the later combined with the mop worked so thanks to all the contributers on this site it saved me phoning dyna rod.   WOW THANK-YOU! Comments By: Curvy Like other people on here all I can say is...Thank goodness I found this site! Had a badly blocked toilet, been working a couple of days to unblock it (luckily had 2nd toilet...Well I tried the coat hanger, hot water, washing up liquid with baking soda finally...I thought Id try using a mop, before calling in a plumber, I did & WOW it was unblocked with-in minutes! FANTASTIC...THANX X   the mop rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comments By: Sandra mottingham Tried everything read on here about the mop and !!!yes it worked!! dynorod quoted me £178.00 ouchhhhhhh   ACID Comments By: Bob thanks for all the advice, I was about to start taking things apart - I put the bathroom in 2 years ago, been fine since then, but this morning, with a total hangover, I got a terrible surprise. So, I equipped myself with a bottle of acid (One Shot), a £3 plunger, 4 liters of cheap coke, 2 kettles of boiling water, one bottle of household bleach for after. £10 for all the ingredients. Although I was retching throughout it was quite satisfying :-) the acid said 125 ml only,,, I did go slightly overboard. It was like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, great, on with the day! Thanks again, good luck with blockages.   The Mop Works Comments By: Rotty Gal Went and bought a £2 mop in Asda this morning - gave the loo a few good plunges - a loud gurgle and problem solved. Thank you Thank you Thank you   Mop Magic Comments By: June McCann Tried the Mop In less than 1 minute Toilet unblocked, Cant believe how easy, only did it ten minutes ago, so fingers crossed. Thankyou for your tip   Coke and Mentos Comments By: Photodom Everyone knows what happens when you drop Menots sweets into a bottle of Coke (Cola). So, what would happen if I tried this with my blocked toilet? Obviously the open end of the bottle would be down the toilet so I'm not sure of the Coke would simply run out, but there should be a hell of a lot of pressure being forced down the wc. We had a new suite installed with a 'modern' toilet which is obviously incapable of dealing with the newer makes of toilet paper as this is the second time in 3 months that it has blocked. I hade been using a cut off section of an old Karcher pressure hose which is very flexible and is able to get all the way around the U bend and into the waste pipe (I can hear it.) It has helped a good bit, but there is still some blockage there which I am having trouble finally clearing. So , has anyone tried the Menotos and Coke? TipKing says: I'm not trying it but it could be fun   It works!!! Comments By: Anon I've been trying to unblock mine for 3 days now and decided to check on the internet. Didn't have a mop, so used the rail from my wardrobe. Tied a load of cloths over one end and then a couple of of bin liners over the cloths. i don't think I had to 'plunge' any more than 3 timee. Thanks!   mop worked! Comments By: Nusaybah Thanks so much for the mop tip... struggled for hours pouring water down, then saw the mop idea, tried it and it worked straight away!   The mop's the king! Comments By: Kezza After my toilet being blocked for 3 days and trying two bottles of One Shot which my local plumbers merchant said would literally burn through anything, I tried the mop! Lo and behold in lesss than 30 seconds my toilet was clear! Thankyou you're a genius!   2 dishwasher tablets Comments By: Anon My daughter put a massive chunk of icing sugar down the toilet and flushed it, consiquently blocking it, my other daughter followed up with the usual toilet duties, so couldn't use mop or hands. I put 2 dishwasher tablets in the toilet followed by several buckets of HOT tap water... Job done!! Excellent tip thanks. :-)