If you’ve got a clogged toilet its often very tempting to use a drain cleaner. It feels less messy and somehow less technical than using a toilet plunger or a toilet snake to unclog a toilet. But before you start flushing harsh chemical cleaners down your toilet it make sense to do some research especially if you have young children around and they are still in the potty training stage.
If you dig around a bit online and in the shelves of most decent sized household good stores, you should be able to lay your hands on brands of non toxic microbial cleaner that are far less caustic and acidic. They also wont cause nasty chemical burns if you spill any on your skin or worse, your eyes!
But despite this remember that most toilet clogs occur when a deposit becomes blocked in the toilet trap way. This is either a U, S or J shaped piece of piping that leads from your toilet hole. Simply pouring a toilet cleaner into the bowl is probably not going to reach the blockage but just swill about in the toilet bowel.
So really there is no alternative to learning how to use a plunger to unclog a toilet. If you choose a specialized toilet plunger which has an extra rubber flange attached to the suction cup, then you’ll find it very efficient indeed at clearing away most clogs. The design creates much more force – both downwards and backwards – on the deposit than a standard sink plunger.
If you really want to be an expert at bathroom toilet unclogging and be in a position where you’ll probably never have to call a plumber, then it’s time to learn how to handle a toilet augur. These are not expensive pieces of equipment,around $30, but do take a little getting used to. The basic function is to extend a cable into the toilet trap, (it’s flexible so can wind its way round the bends in the pipe) and drill the wire coiled bit at the end of the cable into the deposit to loosen it.
Once you have your toilet unclogged you can get back to the business of potty training your child.
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