If your toilet ends up being blocked at a time when you don’t even own a plunger, you will have to turn to other ways of clearing the blockage.
A clogged toilet requires your urgent attention due to a number of reasons. For one, clogged toilets come with the risk of flooding all over your bathroom floors, and maybe even into other rooms. Furthermore, a blocked toilet can be quite embarrassing, even more so if it happens after using the bathroom at a friend’s home.
Use the tips listed below on how to unclog a toilet without a plunger to quickly get rid of this mess and get back to what you were doing.
Before you proceed, you can keep the toilet from flooding and overflowing by removing the toilet cover and lifting the floater to stop the flushing action. You can even go a step further and turn off its water supply using the valve located at the bottom of the toilet for added protection.
Now that you have that handled, you can continue with the unclogging task at hand.
Using Hot Water
The blockage in the toilet can be cleared away using half a bucket of hot water. The heat from the water has what it takes to break down the mass causing the blockage. All you need to do is get half a bucket of hot water and pour it into the toilet bowl, and give it a few minutes to work its magic. You can fetch hot water from your bathroom sink, or from your bathtub. Just remember to set the heat function to the highest possible setting to ensure best results.
Remember not to use boiling water as the heat can cause the toilet bowl to crack.
Using Dishwasher
The second method requires you to get your dishwashing soap from the kitchen, or shampoo, and then pour it into the toilet bowl. The soap solution has what it takes to break up the clog by working on the fats holding it together. Follow this up with half a bucket of hot water and then give the mixture some time to do its thing. The hot water helps speed things up by boosting the soap’s effect.
In most cases, things will start moving along in under an hour. However, if the clog still remains, consider giving the soap more time, as much as one night, to work its way into on the blockage and break things down.
Using Bleach
If you think that the blockage is serious, then the above methods may not have what is needed to break it down; a more powerful cleaning solution might just be what you need. This method is also recommended in cases where the toilet bowl is almost full of water; making the use of a bucket of water more or less impossible.
Pour some bleach into the toilet bowl and then follow it up with a cup of dishwashing soap or detergent. Leave the mixture to sit for about ten minutes, allowing the active chemicals to react; and break down the clog. Afterwards, turn on the water supply to the toilet and lower the floater before flushing the toilet to help move things along.
Wire Hanger
A wire hanger can also be used to unblock a toilet and get things back to normal effectively. Just fetch the wire hanger, preferably one with a plastic coating to avoid marring the toilet bowl, and cut one end using wire cutters. Straighten the wire and then with the straightened end inserted into the toilet bowl. Be sure to have a pair of rubber gloves on for hygienic purposes.
After working the wire in a similar way as you would a toilet snake, the clog should break down and allow the toilet to flush. Simply turn the water supply on and flush the toilet to get rid of the remains of the clog.
The methods described above come in handy when it comes to unclogging a toilet that is almost full of water. Once you have successfully cleared the clog, you can get back to enjoying the convenience of a fully functional toilet. However, remember to get a toilet plunger, for your home or your friend’s, to avoid such problems in the future.
If you live in St. Albans, Harpenden or Stevenage and you run into similar trouble, you may want to contact professional plumbers. We at Alban Plumbers in Hertfordshire are more than happy to take over and help with your plumbing needs.