When Your Toilet Gets Clogged
27 06 2007If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
OK fine. I ADMIT it. I flushed a *few* paper towels down the toilet.
I was cleaning it at the time.
Anyways, long story short - the toilet clogged and over flowed.
We needed a solution FAST that didn’t include phoning out one of those truly expensive all-night plumbers.
We Googled it.
- Empty out as much water from the bowl as you can
- Poor a half cup of (good quality) liquid dish soap. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes
- Boil a large kettle or pot of water
- Poor the boiling water into the bowl. Let sit another 10-15 minutes.
- Plunge as usual
- Flush and VOILA. The clog will be gone.
As a side note, do not put ‘Liquid Plumber’ into toilets. It says so right on the package, but last night when I made the run for dish soap I bought a bottle, just in case. I didn’t read it until I got home (who reads labels anyways. . . . 
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having installed toilets i can tell you why liquid plumr is a toilet no-no
there is a big wax ring that seals your toilet to the drain pipe.
liquid plumr will eat that wax ring.
then, every time you flush about half the water will make it down the pipe and the other half will leak out across the floor from under the base of your toilet.
sounds like personal experience?
fortunately, no.
but i HAVE put regular dish soap (the kind you use to wash dishes by hand) in the dishwasher and had a very brady-bunch moment when suds overran my kitchen.
Thanks for that Brahnamin. . . .
and liquid dish soap in the dishwasher, that is hilarious!
Wow. Thankfully I haven’t had any recent clogs I couldn’t plunge out within a few minutes. The continually rising water is scary, though. You’re like “please God, go down. Vishnu, I know I made fun of your many arms, but please make it go down. Buddha, I know you’re not a ‘god’ per se, but little help?” And when it stops at the rim, you wonder, “how am I supposed to plunge it?” But thanks for the tips, they may come in handy some day–though, hopefully I’ll never need them.
And brahnamin, thanks for the info. Putting “do not use in toilet” doesn’t do much good. But, “using in toilet will result in fecal matter and urine up to your ankles” is what I would consider a warning worth heading.
Also, we never used the dishwasher at home so when I was in college and out of dishwasher soap I used dishsoap. I knew you weren’t supposed to use it, so I didn’t fill it up. I filled it less than halfway. Needless to say, the dishwasher was leaking water and suds for a long time. Again, had they used a better warning label, that may have been avoided. “Using this product in a dishwasher will result in enough suds in your kitchen to hold an all-night bubble rave. Unless there are jello shots, glow sticks, and nearly-naked coeds nearby, do not use in dishwasher.”
Wow. And who knew google could be so handy?
On a total segue… we recently moved to washable, reusable microfibre cleaning clothes, and they are one of the best investments we’ve ever made. Use it with just about any cleaner (but don’t mix them on the cloth) then throw ‘em in the wash when you’re done. Works like a charm, and less goes into the landfill.
OK - I’m done making my sales pitch now
I heard a news item on the radio a while ago that quoted a poll of plumbers on the incidence of toilet overflows. The study showed a large spike in such incidents on November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving. I’ll leave the “why” to your imagination! That, I’m sorry to say, is my only contribution to this discussion.
New Hoosier, although I agree a more ‘colourful’ disclaimer might be a good idea, I think making it more than 5 words will surely loose the attention of students. Dish soap in dishwasher bad.
Cin, thanks for visiting my blog. I’ll keep that in mind with the shammies. I buy a ton of them because I wear glasses. . . . .
Penseroso, Miss you!!! I wonder if there is a spike in October after Canadian thanksgiving too?