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- Determine the right diameter of a drain cleaning cable
- Differences of rak and ROWO / ROTHENBERGER drain cleaning machines
- Drain cleaners - Application and operation
- Drain cleaning cable & co. - terms and intended use
- Drain cleaning cable or chemical pipe cleaner?
- Drain cleaning cable: function and correct application
- Drain cleaning device or drain cleaning cable - which is better?
- Drain clogged: how to remove a drain blockage in the siphon
- Drain stinks - what to do?
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Toilet clogged? This shows you how to unclog!
Toilet clogged: quick guide to cleaning
- Remove foreign objects from the toilet
- Use a high pressure suction pump or special drain cable to clean the toilet.
- Leave the water in the bowl while plunging and press it into the tube by pumping.
- Alternatively, or if plunging is unsuccessful, insert the special drain cleaning cable into the toilet. Attention: Metal scratches ceramic!
- Lead the drain cable to the blockage and release it by cranking. Flush toilet and repeat use if necessary.
- If the blockage is deeper, remove the toilet and work directly in the pipe with a drain cleaning cable.
It is a nightmare for many: the toilet flush is activated, the water flows, the bowl fills, but the building up vortex, which transports the toilet contents with suction into the drain, does not occur. Instead, the bowl runs full to the brim. Often the pressure of the water column then at least slowly drains the water, but foreign bodies remain in the toilet. Now good advice is expensive. How do you get your toilet free again? Here you can find out how you can clean your toilet drain gently and without chemicals.
Do not clean blocked toilet with chemical drain cleaner and "household remedies"
IMPORTANT: Do not use chemical pipe cleaners if the toilet is blocked! They produce a highly corrosive lye in the water of the toilet bowl, which probably won't drain off. There is a risk of massive burns to the skin and eyes! If you have already used chemical drain cleaner, you must try to neutralize them. Get professional help and inform all persons involved that chemical drain cleaner has been used! Read more in our articles "Drain cleaner" and "drain cable tool or chemical pipe cleaner?".
Clean clogged toilet with the professional plunger
The first choice should be a suction & pressure drain cleaner or a suction bell. We offer a variety of different toilet plungers that work with water pressure. These are all superior to the normal "do-it-yourself" plunger because they draw in much more water, build up higher pressure and thus work much more effectively. A professional plunger has significant advantages over the standard suction cup with rubber cap and wooden handle. You can read about these advantages here. With the help of the suction-pressure cleaner you can remove all kinds of blockages from the drain, such as paper, tampons, wet wipes, faeces, hair, etc., and press them through the pipe into the sewer. The professional plunger is therefore also used by professional drain cleaner. It is also very easy to use by anybody and does not require a great deal of specialist knowledge. Since it only works with water pressure, there is also little risk of damaging the toilet during drain cleaning. Even if a suction & pressure drain cleaner is a little more expensive than a simple wood-rubber plunger - it is still worth buying, because it is inexpensive compared to using a pipe cleaner at your place.
Expert Tip: If you want to clean your toilet properly from a blockage, do not use household remedies such as cola and baking soda, or clothes hangers. The effect is often modest, and you quickly risk damaging your pipes. Regarding drain cleaning with cola, for example, we refer to the following expert opinion on the question "fact or fake?"
"Cola can remove few lime deposits, because cola is slightly acidic and lime scale can be dissolved by acids. You won't get a real toilet blockage dissolved by cola." Dr. Bernd Glassl, Industrial Association for Personal Hygiene and Detergents.
Toilet cleaner with drain cable: effectively remove toilet blockage
But what if the drain blockage seems so persistent that it cannot be removed by a professional plunger? Then the next step is to use a toilet cleaner with a drain cleaning cable. When cleaning the toilet you should make sure that you use such a device that has been specially developed for this purpose. By using such toilet cleaners that have a drain cable, damage to the high-quality ceramic of your bowl can be avoided.
If you insert a bare drain cleaning cable into the toilet bowl and drill into the pipe with it, you will very quickly cause non-removable scratches to your ceramic!
It is therefore more practical to use a drain cleaning devices for the toilet. These are either drain cleaning cables that are protected by plastic coatings so that no metal rubs against the ceramic. Or special toilet cleaners that are inserted into the toilet drain and through which the integrated drain cleaning cable is led into the toilet drain. Here, too, a bare drain cleaning cable is prevented from rubbing against ceramic. If you are forced to work with a bare drain cleaning cable, you should not use it to go directly through the toilet, but always remove the toilet bowl from the wall first. You can then work with a normal drain cleaning cable in the drain pipe behind the toilet.
The toilet cleaner's drain cleaning cable is designed to reach right into the toilet siphon, as this is where the blockage is usually located. When you meet the resistance, start cranking on the drain cable. Apply light pressure on the drain cable first. If you are not sure whether the blockage has already been removed, pull the drain cable out of the toilet. Paper and foreign objects often wrap themselves in the drain cleaning cable. Remove it with gloves if necessary and repeat the application. Rinse with some water in between to test if it drains off again. When the drain is clear again, flush the toilet several times to remove any residue. Ideally you should now use the professional plunger to force the water through the freed drain and flush out any remaining foreign matter.
Avoid clogged toilet in future
By the way: Most toilet blockages are caused by flushing objects that do not belong in the toilet. Apart from faeces, only conventional toilet paper belongs in the toilet and the drain. This paper is designed to dissolve in water. ATTENTION: wet wipes tissues do not belong in the bowl! This is usually also noted on the package of moist toilet tissues. Wet wipes are very often the reason for a clogged toilet, as they collect and get stuck in the pipe over time. Kitchen roll and tissues also do not belong in the toilet: test the difference yourself by wiping up a liquid with toilet paper instead of kitchen roll or tissue. Kitchen roll and tissues are designed to remain as stable as possible even when wet and not to tear. This is exactly why they do not belong in the toilet. The toilet paper, on the other hand, will immediately start to dissolve and form rolls. Nor should other wet wipes and tampons be flushed down the toilet. Take this into account and your toilet will remain free for a long time.
A clogged toilet can also be caused by heavy deposits forming in the sewage pipes over years or decades. For example, urine scale often forms in poorly draining toilets, which clog the pipes. In these cases, more complex drain cleaning by a professional drain cleaner may be necessary. This effort and the associated costs can easily be avoided if you decide on one of our drain cleaning devices from the outset.
If you have further questions about the topics described here, please contact us at any time. We will be happy to advise you on the purchase of a suitable tool for cleaning the toilet.
