How To Clear a Toiletbowl Choke

A toiletbowl choke or clog can be a rather embarrassing and highly inconvenient problem to deal with. With some clogs, the level of the water inside the toilet bowl will rise dangerously close to the overflow point, but eventually, the toiletbowl’s contents will go down the drain. This may continue on with each flush until the choke is dealt with. Other types of clogs may result in water and waste from the toiletbowl seeping out onto the floor, and the toilet may continue to run and cause a watery mess in your home until water leading to the toilet is turned off. Understanding how to deal with a toiletbowl choke is a necessity for any homeowner or renter.

Turn Off the Water
As a first step, you should immediately shut off the water main that leads to the toilet. Generally, this is accomplished by turning a little knob located on the wall behind the toilet. By turning this knob, you will stop the flow of water into the toilet. This will in turn stop additional water from pouring out of the toilet bowl. You should also take steps to clean up water on the floor before attempting to fix the toilet. This can prevent water damage from affecting your home.

Gather Your Supplies
After the immediate threat of leaking water and potential water damage from your toiletbowl choke has been dealt with, you can then gather the items that you may need to clear away the clog in your toilet bowl. Items that are commonly used for this purpose include a toilet plunger, a wire hanger that has been unfolded and drain cleaner. You may also benefit from having access to a bleach cleaner, a bucket and rubber gloves for sanitation purposes. If the water level in the toilet bowl is brimming close to the top, old towels may be placed around the bottom of the toilet to minimize the mess associated with removing the toiletbowl choke.

Clearing the Choke
Depending on what type of item or debris has become lodged in the toilet, you may be able to clear the choke away by snaking the pipe, trying to break the debris up or trying to dissolve the debris. As a first step, you should remove the lid on the toilet tank. Then, use the bucket to scoop away excess water from the bowl to avoid spills during the toiletbowl choke removal process. This water may be dumped outside or into another functional toilet in the home. First, you can use the plunger to attempt to remove the clog. Place the base of the plunger around the perimeter of the toilet drain inside the bowl. Make a slow, steady upward and downward motion with the plunger repeatedly for about 20 or 30 seconds. Slowly remove the plunger, and this step alone may resolve your issue. If not, you may consider repeating this step several times before moving on to other steps. If the toiletbowl choke remains, you can use the wire clothes hanger to snake the drain. Run the wire down into the drain as far as it can reach. Make a gentle circular movement to try to loosen the clog. If the toiletbowl choke still remains, you can follow the instructions on a bottle of drain cleaner. These cleaners can be hard on your skin, so you should wear rubber gloves before handling drain choke cleaner.

When to Call a Professional
These steps will remove a toiletbowl choke in most situations. However, if they do not, you should consider calling a plumber to your home for immediate service for toiletbowl choke removal. When you have a toiletbowl choke, you generally cannot use your toilet again until the toilet is fixed. Fast service from a skilled plumber can have your toilet functioning well for you again quickly.