chems for blocked toilet?

[steveo3002]

toilet seems to be getting backed up latley...is there any reccomended chemicals i can try ?

thanks

 

[cocker]

It it's just started you are better off getting the drain canes out , before it becomes a messy problem .
Fat/soap and wet wipes are the usual suspects .

 

[winchman]

As above Hot caustic will clean it but far too dangerous, a good rodding should sort it

 

[Chillitt]

Allbran

 

[Rayf]

This has worked well in the past:
Very hot water followed by washing up liquid....allow some soak time, then more hot water.

 

[dobbslc]

'One Shot' drain cleaner, it's some kind of acid and very strong so don't get it on yourself or anything delicate!

 

[mart]

Right or wrongly, I've always felt that caustic stuff might damage the seal of the flexible pan connector. I have no proof or other basis, but I did not want to risk it. Plumber types on here will know better than me.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Plumb center do a good range.
But you have to leave it for a while.

They di good stuff, a yellow granular substance than is great and removing lime scale.

 

[Hitch]

I remember using some caustic on the one at work years ago.

Big bucket of it kept under the shelf, it had been there ages.
I went to tip a bit into the toilet, but where it had been sat around it had clumped into one big lump, all came out at once.

Didnt go near it for a few hours

 

[angellonewolf]

fill the toilet up use a plunger

i take the drain cover up every year and get some one to pull each flush in the house just to see how well it runs ive had to clean out a full drain full to the brim 7 years ago im not doing that again

 

[mart]

OP
If you do decide to mix some caustic soda up, ensure you have water in the bucket first. I found that if you put the caustic powder in an empty bucket first it tends to lump together for some reason.

 

[rtcosic]

Bizarrely I have just 'sold' 2 unused toilet plungers on the local Facebook Marketplace. Bought them from Amazon ages ago when the downstairs cloakroom WC was backing up.
Whilst awaiting delivery I lifted the manhole and rather wished I could use some eye bleach to unsee what was revealed!
Turned out to be the outside drain to the manhole almost completely blocked as @angellonewolf
Bought a drain jetting attachment for my pressure washer and cleared it out. Never used the plungers and they wouldn't have achieved anything.

Caused by the replacement 'modern' loo with 'water saving flush. Problem solved by always flushing twice.

 

[angellonewolf]

Bizarrely I have just 'sold' 2 unused toilet plungers on the local Facebook Marketplace. Bought them from Amazon ages ago when the downstairs cloakroom WC was backing up.
Whilst awaiting delivery I lifted the manhole and rather wished I could use some eye bleach to unsee what was revealed!
Turned out to be the outside drain to the manhole almost completely blocked as @angellonewolf
Bought a drain jetting attachment for my pressure washer and cleared it out. Never used the plungers and they wouldn't have achieved anything.

Caused by the replacement 'modern' loo with 'water saving flush. Problem solved by always flushing twice.

fill your pain

my man hole cover was 2.5 foot aprox and 2 footx1.5 foot full to the brim i roded it found the blockage pushed it out but it was so backed up there was not much water so i had to sit there with a spade blocking the hole let a little through wash it way and repeat took a couple of hours
the best part we had just moved in 3 weeks ago so prob was not all ours

 

[Feet 'n Inches]

Last time I had that problem I went straight to the drain and found the blockage there. A quick rodding followed by a blast with the hose set to a jet (we have really good water pressure) and the problem was solved.

 

[Morrisman]

I recall Dynorod coming to clear our upstairs toilet. The guy ran his pressure washer crap blaster device up from the bottom, via a manhole in the garden, hit a blockage, and decided it was right at the top of the system, and thus he needed to cut a piece out of the cast iron down pipe, about chest high from the ground, so he could access it with the master blaster.

He was doing quite well, with his 4” angle grinder.... until it became apparent the blockage was below the cut he was making, not above..... The poor young chap got a face and chest high blast of foul stinking family toilet detritus, as his grinder cut in and cracked open a 2” hole.

The problem was my wife throwing baby wipes down the toilet. They are not flushable, regardless what it says on the pack.

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

We had similar problems a few years ago. I put twelve 3ft drain rods down the pipe – enough to reach the main in the centre of the street – but never hit any real blockage. Surging with the 4” rubber disc on drain rods would get things flowing for a few days, then it would block again. Council men lifted the cover in the street and found the main drain clogged up with “disposable” nappies, they said a large proportion of their call-outs were for the same thing. Not caused by us, our kids having grown up and left home 20 years previously.

My rods are the cheap type with screw joints, so I have to keep twisting clockwise. Wish I had a set with locking joints, which would be better for the old nerves.

If you don't have a proper toilet plunger, a household floor mop, with the head in a poly bag half filled with water, is a fairly good substitute.

 

[Cobbler]

If you don't have a proper toilet plunger, a household floor mop, with the head in a poly bag half filled with water, is a fairly good substitute.

That reminds me, changing the subject slightly, a friend of ours went to a smartish hotel in Turkey. Went back to their room during the day to pick up something & the cleaner was in there. She was sticking the mop down the toilet & using it to mop the floor! They didn’t feel the same way about the hotel after.

 

[The Artilleryman]

Anglia Water's wonderful vacuum chamber system means I need to check our main access chamber every month. The main pipe under the road backs up regularly, but rarely affects the rest of our drains - now that I've repositioned the vent stack to the correct location, mind you 200feet of 4 inch underground with very little drop does not help.

They older residents do say that if you have not seen Anglia Waters van pass your house today, it's because it came in the other end of the road(to the pumping station), I didn't believe them, but they are right. Even their engineers admit to spending most of the time in our village.

 

[julianf]

Caustic soda / sodium hydroxide will take your skin off, blind you, take off paints etc. but I've never, personally, seen it damage plastic or rubber seals.

For context, I buy it in 25kg sacks, often more than one at a time.

But...

Be very sure to mix it in another container and then pout it down the loo. When you mix it in water, it's quite exothermic. Exothermic enough that I've melted plastic with it before when I've left a lump at the bottom dissolving (so trapping the heat locally)

I reckon in just the right circumstances you might be able to crack the bowl with localised heat if you just chuck powder down there.


Be aware, get it in your eyes and youre off to hospital. Get it on your hands and when you wash them your hands will feel soapy. That's you're hands washing away....

It's good stuff, but be cautious.

 

[Barking Mat]

This has worked well in the past:
Very hot water followed by washing up liquid....allow some soak time, then more hot water.

One of my favorite solutions to many marine toilet issues.