Have you ever been in a situation where you are over at someone else’s house and the toilet gets clogged? There is nothing worse than that moment of panic when you realize that the bowl is about to overflow. Embarrassing, right? Sometimes you can look around and find a plunger under the sink or in a closet, but most of the time, you would have to ask for one. If this is something you want to avoid, or if you want to avoid having a costly bill from the plumber for a clog, try this trick to help you unclog a toilet right on the spot.
Add hot water to the clog and let it sit a bit. Hopefully, you can find a cup in the bathroom and just use the hot tap water. The hot water will help break up the material and make it more easily able to be flushed. With out getting too disgusting, it sort of melts it away to a liquid consistency. A few cups of hot water may do the trick without the plunger, but for best results, you may have to plunge anyway.
If that doesn’t work right away, try the hot water (boiling water is best) again with the addition of a little bit of dishwashing detergent. The dishwashing detergent speeds up the process of the material breaking down.
Of course, this won’t work too well if the cause of the clog is a foreign object, such as a miniature plastic batman, a tampon, or a rock. These things shouldn’t be flushed, but hey it happens. In that case, you will need to shut off the water, drain the tank and possibly disconnect the toilet from the floor in order to remove the object and release the clog. Otherwise, you are back to calling the plumber.
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