How to unblock a toilet: What to do if your toilet is not flushing
Toilet blockages are among the most stressful and unpleasant home maintenance issues. Not only are they unhygienic, but they also require quick action since no home can be without a working toilet for long.
Having a basic understanding of how to fix common toilet problems can be very helpful. This way, you can solve the issue on your own without needing to call a professional.
In this article, we explain what to do if your toilet is not flushing and how to clear a blockage.
What Causes a Blocked Toilet
Why is my toilet not flushing?
If your toilet is failing to flush, then it’s likely that there’s something lodged in the pipework, usually in the U-bend, that needs to be either pulled out or pushed through the system.
The most common causes of blocked toilets are the flushing of excessive quantities of toilet paper, sanitary products, nappies and wet wipes. In short, flushing anything that isn’t designed to be flushed (and flushing too much of things that are) can lead to a blockage.
Discover the most common culprits of blocked toilets in our article ‘What can you flush down the toilet and drains?’.
Sometimes accidents happen, and sometimes blockages that occur in toilets are outside of your control.
A clogged toilet might be indicative of a plumbing issue or even a problem outside of the house. In this instance, you’ll most likely need to get a professional domestic drain unblocker in.
How should I unblock a toilet?
Unseating a stubborn blockage can be a challenging task, but the process will go much more smoothly if you follow a few simple steps.
Step 1: Get yourself protected
Whatever your approach to the problem, it’s most important to ensure that the contents of a blocked toilet do not come into any unnecessary contact with you or your surroundings.
As such, rubber gloves are a must, and protective glasses or goggles are also recommended. Additionally, covering the floor with spare towels or an old sheet will help to protect the other furnishings from any contamination.
Step 2: Turn off the water supply
Dealing with a toilet blockage can be unpleasant work, so you’ll want to avoid the risk of a nasty flood by turning off the flow of water to your toilet.
This can be done from inside the cistern by propping up the float lever that triggers the cistern to refill. You can also turn off the water supply by using the valve typically located behind the toilet on the wall.
Our article ‘How to turn off a water supply’ can also help you to locate the cutoff valve.
Step 3: Fish out any known blockages
If you know that an item other than waste matter, such as a phone or a child’s toy, is responsible for blocking the water flow, then this needs to be retrieved, or else it’ll inevitably get stuck again somewhere else in the system.
Discover some truly bizarre and inexplicable items found down in the drains in our article ‘The weirdest things ever found in the sewers’.
In most other cases, the blockage will be made up of faeces or an excessive amount of toilet paper. In these instances, it’s much more advisable to push the obstruction through the system, as it’ll disintegrate once it’s broken up.
Step 4: Try DIY Unblocking Solutions for U-bends
Once you’re committed to clearing the blockage manually, there are a few common methods that can deliver good results with a minimum of expertise or specialist equipment.
The most obvious approach would be to use a plunger to create a vacuum over the toilet bowl opening, then apply air pressure to dislodge or break up a blockage further down the pipe.
Pouring hot water into the bowl can also help to dissolve the obstructions, but be aware that this will only work against blockages that aren’t too serious, so don’t try this if the toilet bowl is already overflowing.
Step 5: Bring out the rods to unblock the toilet
If at first you don’t succeed, it might be that the blockage is further along the system than you can reach with a plunger. In this case, it might be better to find a longer implement.
One tool that may be useful in this situation is a toilet auger. This gizmo allows you to reach the blockage if it’s further into the toilet pipework than the U-bend, and to either pull it out or push it through accordingly.
Step 6: When all else fails, call in the drain unblocking experts
If you’ve exhausted all possible outlets and your toilet is still blocked, it may be that drain rods need to be used to remove a blockage that’s much further through the pipework than you can manually reach.
If you find yourself in a tough situation, it might be time to call in the experts for help.
When you choose Lanes, you'll be happy to know that there are no callout fees. We only charge for the work we do, and we have a well-established reputation for quickly and efficiently handling toilet blockages.
Find out more about our domestic drain unblocking services, or give us a call on 0800 526 488.