If you think most of the clog is, for instance, a young child who overzealously used far too much paper...
Then I recommend:
1: turn off the water valve
2: flush (it will attempt to drain water but no new water from the tank will go into the bowl; this should keep it from overflowing.)
3: evaluate how much (if at all) the water level went down.
4: If there's room, pour some vinegar into the bowl.
5: If you were able to pour in some vinegar, turn on the fan in that room and walk away from it for a few hours. Then come back and attempt to flush again. Do not turn the water valve back on yet! Keep replacing with vinegar, instead, until it empties out... then turn the water valve back on, refill the tank from a sink (watering pots are useful for this), and attempt it once more.
If the water level did not go down at all, or if you don't think it was too much paper, then do an internal check on how strong you think your stomach is, and if you have access to any other toilet, because that will constrain your choices.
If you have the time, and you are sure it is a 'natural' plug (not, for instance, a rubber ducky that someone attempted to flush. Or a toy robot with scuba gear made out of aluminum foil -just WHY?- or anything else of that nature)...
Then go ahead and leave the whole thing be for a few hours; the water around the 'plug' will soften it eventually.
You can then attempt to plunge it again.
Then, again turning off the water valve, attempt to flush it.
If your water goes down a lot but it still doesn't properly flush, replace the water in the bowl with water from a sink and let it sit again for a while and repeat.
If your water doesn't go down at all, and it's still really jammed, then your next step is to haul out the plumbing snake.
If you don't have a strong stomach, do not attempt to use a snake yourself! Call a plumber.
If it looks like it properly flushes, then go ahead and turn your water valve back on again, wait until the bowl AND tank fill, and flush again to make sure.
*** please note that when I'm talking about "water valve" here, I don't mean the one to your whole apartment building or house, I just mean the one on the pipe that supplies water to your toilet tank ***
If you think your clog is not a "natural" plug -like some toy, or a guest who doesn't know how to properly use a compost bin trying to flush catfish head, bones, tail, and guts....
Then go straight to a snake, or a plumber.
Also, I recommend wearing a mask and putting a few drops of some scented oil on the mask, because it will help give you the calm sense and space to not get too worked up about matters.
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