Clearing a Stopped Commode

Its a horrible feeling. You flush the toilet and instead of going down, you start seeing the water level rise. In a frenzy you rush to turn the water shut off valve off if you know where it is. Hopefully you have managed to get the water off before the bowl completely overflows onto your floor. If not, you have quite a mess to clean up. But after the water stops and you clean up the mess do you know how to clear the clog? This article will give you some tips.

If you have a small clog in your toilet it will be quite easy to clear. You can usually take care of it with just a basic plunger. Every home should have a plunger so if you do not have one, go to the store and buy a good plunger. If the bowl is full to the rim you will need to empty it slightly to avoid splashes. Now insert the plunger into the bowl and position it in the center. Push down slowly and smoothly. Do this several times and the clog should disappear. If it does not, you may have a more severe clog.

If a plunger fails to clear a clog you will need to move to a toilet snake. You can buy or even rent them at just about any home improvement store. Make sure you get a toilet snake and not a general drain snake. It is designed to not scratch your toilet. Simply place the toilet snake into your commode and into the drain hole ant the bottom of the bowl. Turn the handle and move the snake into the drain pipe and out again. Repeat this step several times. If you remove the clog, flush the toilet a few times to completely remove all material from the pipes.

Between these two methods, your clog should be history. If these methods of clog removal failed to clear your pipes though you should contact a professional plumber. You might have a severe clog which requires professional attention.

Author:
James C
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