How to Plunge a Toilet (Updated March ’20)
The toilet plunger has become a staple in every household. It saves us all tons of time and money in the long run, being that it reduces the rate at which we find ourselves enlisting in the aid of a plumber. While it may initially seem silly to provide instructions on how to plunge a toilet, you might be rather surprised to find that your technique could do with a bit of improvement. Through taking the necessary steps in plunging your toilet, you’ll find that you won’t only unclog your toilet, but you will keep it unclogged. Follow the below steps to ensure your problem is gone for good. If this doesn’t work, you can be sure that your toilet’s clog is too powerful to be handled by a plunger.
PLUNGE UNTIL THE WATER GOES DOWN
The first and most obvious step. Whenever your toilet gets clogged, you likely find yourself simply plunging your toilet until the water in its bowl goes down, often creating a flushing sound in the process. Once this has happened, you can be sure that your toilet is unclogged. As such, this is the first thing you want to do when problems arise. Easy, right? Not so fast. While this will certainly get the job done in the heat of the moment, it won’t exactly prevent further clogs from happening. Often, a large amount of debris is left behind, paving the way for more clogs in the future. As such, it’s important to follow up with the appropriate measures after getting your toilet to flush.
GET RID OF ANY NOTICEABLE DEBRIS
This is the most important step, not in unclogging your toilet, but in keeping it unclogged in the future. Sometimes, after unclogging your toilet, you may find that there is a little piece of toilet paper sticking out of the toilet’s hole. It can be easy to think of said piece of toilet paper as being rather harmless, though even the smallest piece of material can often indicate that there is a larger problem deeper into the hole. After you’ve completed the first step and have allowed your toilet to fill back up with water, you’ll want to keep plunging your toilet until there is absolutely no debris left behind. By doing so, you can be sure that you’ve successfully dealt with any blockages deeper in the hole that the debris in question is clinging onto. Simply put, no debris is an okay level of debris.
KEEP PLUNGING
At this point, you can be fairly (though not completely) sure that you’ve dealt with any blockages within the toilet’s drain. However, if you have the time required to complete this final step, you may find it’s just what you need to prevent further issue. After you’ve unclogged the toilet and have done away with any debris, simply keep plunging it. Give it a good flush every now and then to wash away anything you may have loosened up in the drain. After completing this step over the course of a minute or two, you can be sure you’ve done everything you can to prevent further issue.
