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Blocked Toilet Auckland
Toilet or drain? How to tell, what to do when it overflows, who pays in a rental, and what a drainlayer does when the plunger has not worked.
DIY
To unblock a toilet, start with a flange plunger, the type with a soft sleeve that fits into the outlet at the bottom of the pan. That only works when the blockage is in the toilet itself. If the shower, basin or outside gully is backing up too, it is in the drain, and our page on blocked toilets in Auckland covers that. For a pan blockage, seal the plunger, push gently first, then work it firmly for 15 to 20 seconds and pull away sharply. If that fails, try dish soap and hot (never boiling) water, then a toilet auger. Skip chemical drain cleaners.
Run a basin tap and the shower for a minute, then look at the outside gully trap. If they all drain normally and the gully is empty, the blockage is almost certainly in the toilet pan itself, in the S-bend moulded into the porcelain, which is where most toilet blockages sit. That is the case this guide is for. If anything else is backing up, stop here: a plunger cannot reach a blockage in the drain outside.
Get set up before you start. You want rubber gloves, old towels around the base of the toilet and a bucket. If the bowl is full to the rim, scoop some out into the bucket so you do not splash wastewater over the floor when you plunge. Turn off the isolation tap on the cistern's water supply as well, so an accidental flush cannot overflow it. The signs of a blocked drain help if you are unsure what the rest of the house is telling you.
A plunger works by pushing and pulling the water in the S-bend so the blockage loosens and moves on. It needs a seal and enough water over the cup, so technique counts for more than force. Use a flange plunger, often sold as a toilet plunger. It has a rubber sleeve that folds out of the cup and fits into the outlet. A flat sink plunger cannot seal on the curve of a toilet pan.
Most paper blockages give way within a few rounds. If the water level moves a little each time, keep going. If it does not move at all after several rounds, something firmer is in there, and the auger is the next step.
Dish soap and hot water can loosen a soft blockage of paper and waste, and they work well before a second round with the plunger. Squeeze a generous amount of dishwashing liquid into the bowl and give it 15 to 30 minutes to sink down to the blockage. Then pour in a bucket of hot water from about waist height. Use hot tap water, or a kettle left to cool for a while. Never pour in boiling water.
The reason is the pan itself. Toilets are made of vitreous china, and boiling water poured onto cold porcelain can crack it through thermal shock. A cracked pan means a new toilet, which is a much bigger job than the blockage was. Boiling water would not dissolve wipes or sanitary products anyway.
This method does nothing for wipes, sanitary products or a dropped object. Those have to be pulled out or pushed through.
A toilet auger, also called a closet auger, is the tool to reach for after the plunger. It is a short steel cable inside a curved rigid tube, with a rubber or plastic sleeve at the bend so it does not scratch the bowl. You feed it through the S-bend and turn the handle to break the blockage up or hook it out. Hardware stores sell them.
Use a toilet auger rather than a general drain snake. A thin snake made for sink wastes can scratch the glaze and tangle in the wider passages of a toilet. A toilet auger is built to get through the pan, not to travel down the drain, so if it reaches its full length and the toilet is still blocked, the problem is further along.
With no plunger in the house, a few things are worth trying in this order: dish soap and hot water as above, a bucket of water poured from height, then the cling film method. None of them will move a solid object, and if the bowl is already close to the rim, skip the bucket method.
Pour a bucket of warm water into the bowl quickly, from about waist height. The weight and speed of the water can push a soft blockage through. Only do this when the water in the bowl is low, or it ends up on the floor.
Dry the rim, stretch two or three layers of cling film (glad wrap) tightly across the whole bowl, then flush. The film traps the air and bulges up. Pressing down on the bulge with flat hands pushes on the water in the S-bend, a little like a plunger. It can shift a soft paper blockage, and it is messy if the film lets go, so put towels down first.
Popular and mostly harmless, but do not expect much. The fizz is the two reacting with each other, and it is nowhere near strong enough to break up wipes or a wad of paper sitting in a full bowl of water. If you have tried it, follow up with hot water and move on to a plunger. Our guide on how to unblock a drain covers where home remedies like this are worth trying.
Most of the damage done to toilets during a blockage comes from three things: chemical drain cleaners, wire coat hangers and boiling water. None of them clears wipes or a dropped object, and each can leave you with a hazard or a damaged pan on top of the blockage you started with. Here is what to skip, and why.
Follow the first aid directions on the label. Rinse skin with plenty of water straight away. For eyes, the National Poisons Centre advises flushing with room-temperature water for at least 15 minutes. Then call the National Poisons Centre on 0800 764 766 (0800 POISON). It is free and open 24/7. Do the same if anyone swallows it.
Stop and call a drainlayer or plumber when the plunger and auger have not moved it, when you know a solid object such as a toy or phone went down, when other fixtures or the outside gully trap are backing up, or when the toilet clears and then blocks again within days. At that point the blockage is either out of reach or has a cause that clearing will not fix.
Some of what comes next is restricted work. Under the PGDB's rules a homeowner may clear a blocked drain as long as it does not involve altering or repairing the inspection or ventilation pipe. Taking a toilet off its connection, though, is unfixing a plumbing fixture, and that is a job for a licensed plumber. Restricted drainage work is done by PGDB-licensed drainlayers.
If water is coming up through a shower or floor waste, or the only toilet in the house is out of action, use our 24/7 emergency drainage line. Otherwise a normal booking is fine.
Once it is clear, the cheapest fix is keeping it that way: only toilet paper, urine and faeces go down. The full list is in what not to put down the drain.
Bail the bowl down to about half full, then use a flange plunger properly: seal it in the outlet, push gently first, then firm strokes and a sharp pull, repeated several times. If the water will not move at all, use a toilet auger. If neither works, or the shower and gully are affected too, the blockage is beyond the pan, in the drain, and needs a drainlayer's equipment.
For a soft blockage of paper and waste, a generous squirt of dishwashing liquid, then after 15 to 30 minutes a bucket of hot water that is well short of boiling. That is about it. Nothing you can pour will dissolve wipes, sanitary products or a dropped object, and chemical drain cleaners make the bowl hazardous for whoever has to plunge it.
No. Bleach is a disinfectant, not something that breaks down paper or wipes, so it will not shift a blockage. It adds a hazard too: bleach mixed with acidic cleaners, including some toilet bowl cleaners, or with ammonia gives off toxic gas. Clear the blockage mechanically first, with a plunger or a toilet auger, and clean the bowl afterwards.
A toilet auger, not a chemical. A flange plunger clears most paper blockages, and a toilet auger reaches through the S-bend to break up or pull out what the plunger cannot. Past the pan, drainlayers use powered drain machines and water jetting from outside. No liquid product works on wipes, sanitary products or a dropped object.
Usually one of four reasons. It is the wrong plunger, because a flat sink plunger cannot seal on a toilet outlet. There is not enough water to cover the cup. The blockage is solid, such as a wad of wipes or an object. Or the blockage is not in the toilet at all but in the drain outside. If the shower or gully is affected too, it is the last one.
We would not. Caustic soda is sodium hydroxide, a corrosive that burns skin and eyes. Drain products like it are made for soft material such as grease and hair, so they will not dissolve paper, wipes or sanitary products, and a toilet full of caustic water is dangerous for the next person to plunge it. If you use any drain product, follow the label exactly and never combine it with another.
Tell us what it is doing and we will tell you what it probably is, what it takes to fix, and what that should cost.