How to unclog a toilet

Two Genzel Plumbing technicians unloading equipment beside a van

Short answer: stop flushing, grab a flange plunger and give it ten or so firm pushes with the seal kept tight. If that fails, a toilet auger reaches what a plunger cannot. If several drains in the house are slow at the same time, the toilet is not the problem, and no amount of plunging will fix it.

First, stop the water from rising

If the bowl is filling toward the rim, do not flush again. Take the lid off the tank and push the rubber flapper at the bottom back down onto its seat. That stops water going into the bowl. Then turn the shutoff valve behind the toilet clockwise until it stops. Now you have time to work.

Use the right plunger

There are two kinds. A cup plunger is flat across the bottom and is made for sinks and tubs. A flange plunger has an extra rubber sleeve that folds out of the cup, and that sleeve fits the curved opening at the bottom of a toilet bowl. Using a cup plunger on a toilet is the most common reason plunging "doesn't work."

Make sure there is enough water in the bowl to cover the rubber. Add some from a bucket if the bowl is low.
Put the flange into the drain opening and press down slowly so the air pushes out without splashing.
Push and pull hard, keeping the seal, for 10 to 15 strokes. The pull matters as much as the push.
Break the seal and watch. If the water drops away, give it a test flush with your hand ready on the flapper.

Two or three rounds of that clears most clogs caused by too much toilet paper.

Try dish soap and hot water

If plunging only gets the water moving slowly, pour a good squirt of dish soap into the bowl and follow it with a bucket of hot tap water. Give it 15 to 20 minutes, then plunge again. The soap helps paper and waste slide.

Use hot water, not boiling. Boiling water can crack the porcelain or soften the wax ring that seals the toilet to the floor, and then you have a leak to deal with as well as the clog. If you are wondering about the baking soda and vinegar trick, we wrote up what it really does to a clog.

When a plunger isn't enough, use a toilet auger

A toilet auger (sometimes called a closet auger) is a short cable inside a bent tube, with a rubber sleeve that protects the bowl. Most hardware stores carry them. Feed the end into the drain opening, crank the handle to push the cable through the trap, and pull it back out. It either breaks the clog up or hooks it so you can pull it out. This is the right tool for a toy, a phone, a toothbrush or a wad of wipes.

What not to do

Chemical drain cleaners. They rarely clear a toilet clog, they sit in the bowl if they do not work, and they make the job dangerous for whoever has to plunge or snake it next.
A wire coat hanger. It scratches the porcelain and does not reach far enough into the trap to matter.
Flushing to "test" it before the water level has dropped. That is how a clog becomes a flood.

Wipes are the usual suspect

Wipes labeled "flushable" go down the toilet fine. They just do not break apart the way toilet paper does, so they snag in the trap or further down the line and collect everything that follows. If a toilet in your house clogs again and again, look at what is going into it before you look at the toilet.

When it is not the toilet

A clog in the toilet itself affects that toilet. These signs point further down the line, to the main sewer line that serves the whole house:

The tub or shower drains slowly or backs up when you flush.
Drains gurgle somewhere else in the house when a toilet runs.
More than one toilet is slow at the same time.
You smell sewage near a floor drain or in the yard.

Main line clogs and tree roots are common in North Texas, and they do not respond to plunging. We put a camera down the line to find the cause before recommending a fix. See drain cleaning and sewer camera inspection.

When to call us

Call if the toilet is still clogged after a plunger and an auger, if it clogs every week, if water is leaking around the base, or if any of the main line signs above show up. If the toilet itself is cracked, rocks, or runs constantly, it may be time for a repair or a new one; that is covered on our toilet repair and replacement page.

Genzel Plumbing is a family-owned, licensed plumber in McKinney, serving homes across Collin County since 2001. Call (972) 238-5585 and you will know the price before we start.