Fix an Overflowed Toilet Stuffed by Toilet Paper
Toilets rely on gravity and pressure to help clear waste through the lines. The typical opening of a toilet's waste pipe can be between 3” and 4” in size; enough to handle most waste, but easily clogged by things not meant to be in there. When too much waste, such as waterlogged toilet paper, blocks the opening to the toilet's waste pipe, gravity can't help to push it through. Clear the excess toilet paper from the toilet and its drain to get the toilet bowl flushing properly again.
Steps
- Take a look inside the toilet bowl to check for visible toilet paper blocking the waste pipe.
- Reach inside the bowl and remove as much toilet paper as possible from the pipe. Only some of the blockage may be close enough to the surface of the drain to be seen or removed; the blockage may extend several feet down the pipe out of sight and reach.
- Make sure that the toilet bowl contains enough water to reach at least halfway up its rim. If there is no water in the bowl, pour in enough to cover at least half of the bowl. This will make plunging the bowl more effective.
- Place a toilet plunger completely over the opening of the toilet's drain. Make sure the water in the bowl extends up and over the rubber head of the plunger.
- Exert pressure on the handle of the plunger to force it down into the rubber head. Pull up on the handle to release the indent in the rubber, but not enough to pull the plunger free from the drain. The idea is to create suction, not pressure inside the drain. The effective action is created when pulling back or upward, not when pushing downward. Whatever is clogging the drain isn't moving forward because it's stuck. So, image trying to stuff a rag into a tube. Once it's stuck, pushing harder won't help. But pulling the rag back outward a bit will loosen the tension enough to allow the rag to drop freely through the tube. It's the same principle. The key is to create a tight seal between the toilet surface and the plunger head, then pull upward to 'suck' the blockage backwards enough to loosen it in the drain.
- Keep plunging for 5 to 10 minutes on the drain. Check periodically to see if the drain is cleared by pulling the plunger away from the drain. If the drain has cleared, the toilet should automatically flush itself.
- Feed a plumbing snake down any toilets that are still blocked after up to 10 minutes of plunging. The plumbing snake is a thin coil that can come in lengths up to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. It is fed through the pipes to push the blockage along until it comes free.
- Slowly push the snake inside the toilet drain, but do not force or put excess pressure on it to avoid scratching the finish of the toilet.
- Keep feeding the snake through the toilet drain until it releases the blockage and the toilet flushes itself.
- Remove the snake from the drain.
Tips
- The plunger should be hard to pull away from the drain when there is a proper seal. Try to gently tug it away once you've begun plunging to ensure you have a good seal. This will help provide the pressure needed to push the toilet paper out of the way.
Warnings
- Never attempt to flush drain clearing chemicals down the toilet. These can splash up when the toilet flushes and cause injury.
Things You'll Need
- Plunger
- Plumbing snake
- Gloves
