Clogged Toilet Drain Line

A plunger might seem basic but it is still the best way to unclog a toilet.

Clogged toilet drain line.

Toilets are often the first fixture to experience problems but any other low lying fixture can also be involved such as a shower or bathtub on the main level of your home. The drain in the toilet bowl is basically a p trap. An obvious sign of a sewer drain clog is when more than one plumbing fixture backs up at the same time. The ergonomic handles make it easy to rotate the cable with its bulb head down the drain line past the toilet to break up and clear clogs lodged there.

A clog in your plumbing often affects a single sink tub shower or toilet but if more than one fixture is backed up you may need to clean out the main drain line. You see your home s drain lines carry wastewater away from your home and are designed like a tree the trunk is the main sewer line while the branches are smaller secondary drain. If you often pour cooking oil into the sink you likely have a buildup of grease or fat. This is the purpose of a venting system.

If you flush feminine hygiene products or cotton swabs down the toilet they don t dissolve in water and instead get stuck in the pipes. Multiple fixtures are clogged. Keep an eye on the water level and as it drops continue to add more hot water to keep it full. If more than one drain is slow moving gurgling smells bad or has water backing up you most likely have a main sewer clog.

Eventually toilet paper or other debris gets snagged on the roots further preventing water from flowing through the main sewer drain line. Check the following water fixtures. Best drain cleaner tool for hair clogs 19 6. The other option is to reach behind the toilet and turn the water supply off.

How to fix a clogged toilet 7 options. The old stand by the plunger. If the drain lines in your home have poor venting as in figure a for example water rushing down the drains will pull water from nearby p traps. Even the least expensive toilet snake will clear a toilet but the closet auger is a special type of drain snake designed to get around the first bend keep debris at arm s length and yet still spin the coil to hook foreign objects.

Flushing sanitary products such as paper towels facial tissues feminine hygiene products or even extra thick toilet paper can also clog your sewer line. As water goes down a drain air is needed to equalize the pressure in the drain line. If you have large trees growing in your front yard the roots can eat through the pipe and block the sewer line. Most toilet backups aren t total clogs so there s a good chance yours will drain slowly at first.

A drain toilet snake is a long wire coil with a corkscrew like tip that you feed into your pipes until it encounters the clog.