The Best Way to Unclog a Toilet with Poop in It
Last Updated on July 28, 2023 by toilethaven
Unclogging a toilet can be a straightforward and fast task or a long and difficult one. It is especially bad if the clogged toilet has poop in it and or toilet paper.
The best way to unclog a toilet with poop and toilet paper is by emptying the bowl or draining it if it’s full of water and overflowing. Scoop the waste into an empty bucket, then use a toilet plunger or auger to unclog it.
Hot water, dish soap, baking soda, vinegar solution, or a wire hanger are excellent ways to unclog a toilet if you do not have a toilet plunger or snake.
Attempting to plunge a toilet with poop in it is not very effective. It would be best to have the plunger’s rubber cup to make a tight seal with the bowl’s outlet. This will, however, be impeded by poop or toilet paper.
How to Unclog a Toilet with Poop in It
Let us look at the various ways you can unclog a toilet with poop starting with the fastest one. Remember, the fastest one is not necessarily the easiest one. We are talking about poop here.
1. Using Your Bare Hand
I know this sounds gross, but what are your options when your toilet bowl is full of poop, water, and toilet paper? If you use a plunger immediately, the waste will splash all over your bathroom floor.
This is especially a good way to unclog a toilet full of poop, and you don’t have a plunger. Imagine this has happened in your friend’s or relative’s house, and you have no other option.
Imagine your hand is a plunger, and use your palm to force the waste down the drain. It works. Wash your hands with plenty of soap and running water afterward.
If you have rubber gloves, this is an effortless and safe way to get over and done with the clog.
2. Plunge the Toilet
A toilet plunger is a round rubber cup with a long stick used to unclog toilets. It creates a pressure differential between the top of the clog and the drainpipe, unclogging the toilet.
The best toilet plunger to use is the one with a small opening at the front (bell-shaped), which will fit around the bottom of the toilet. This seals around the toilet drain for maximum pressure application.
This method might work well if the clogged toilet is not overflowing with water. For the initial plunge, you will need to be very gentle, as this is when the air will be leaving the bottom of the toilet, which might cause the water to splash into your face.
After the first plunge, you can start plunging more aggressively until the clog has been dislodged. Always try as much as possible not to stare directly into the bowl just in case some water splashes into your face.
For more information on how to use a toilet plunger, check out this post.
3. Snake the Toilet with an Auger
A toilet auger will either shred the clogs into small pieces or pull them out. It is by far the best tool to unclog a toilet. Any serious plumber uses an auger when they have to unclog a toilet. You can easily use it too.
The best thing about a toilet auger is that it goes exactly where the clog is located and acts on it directly. Unlike a plunger, an auger head enters the trap when the clogs are located.
Feed the toilet auger into the toilet bowl and through the bowl’s outlet until the auger head reaches where the clog is. To avoid scratching the bowl, ensure the toilet auger’s bowl guard sits at the drain opening.
When everything is lined up properly, start cranking the auger handle, starting slowly and increasing the intensity gradually. When you feel any form of resistance, pull the auger out. The clog might have been hooked up.
If the clog were like soap or toilet paper, the auger would shred them to pieces, unclogging the toilet.
Retrieve the auger from the toilet slowly. When you do it abruptly, the auger head can leave unpleasant scratches on the toilet bowl.
4. Unclog the Toilet with Saran Wrap
Saran wraps, or any other plastic wrap, can be used to unclog a toilet with poop successfully. It is especially helpful when the toilet is full of water mixed with poop.
Wrap the saran wrap around the toilet bowl several times to form a water-tight seal. If the water is too low in the bowl, flush the toilet to add more water. The idea is to build up pressure above the clog.
With your open palms, apply as much pressure as you can on top of the bowl wrapped with plastic paper by pushing it down. The pressure applied will be way more than the pressure in the drainpipe, which will cause the clog to be sucked in.
A saran wrap is a great way of unclogging a toilet without a plunger. If this method fails, you will need to explore more options to unclog your toilet.
5. Use Vinegar and Baking Soda
Baking soda, scientifically known as sodium bicarbonate, is a mild alkali. Vinegar, on the other hand, is an acidic substance.
When baking soda and vinegar are mixed, a fizzling reaction will occur. This solution will therefore break down the poop and the clog, which is less messy than other methods.
If the bowl is full of water, pour some water into a bucket up to about the halfway mark. This, however, will be an unpleasant task.
Pour one cup of baking soda into the toilet bowl, followed by 2 cups of vinegar. As earlier stated, these two will react; therefore, pour the vinegar slowly. Give the solution 30 mins to work.
The toilet should unclog after some time. To give it some oomph, empty a gallon of hot water into the bowl. This will help push everything down.
Do not use boiling water, as that might crack the toilet bowl—more about that in this post.
6. Use a Wire Hanger
A wire hanger is a great tool to unclog a toilet without a plunger or a toilet auger. This works the same way as a toilet auger by targeting the clog in the toilet trap.
Grab a wire hanger from your closet and straighten it. Carefully feed it through the toilet drain opening while twisting and turning it. Please ensure you have on your rubber gloves, as this will involve putting your hands inside the toilet despite the poop in it.
The wire hanger will hopefully cut the clog into smaller pieces and therefore unclog the toilet. It is very important to be careful while using the wire hanger as it can scratch the toilet bowl.
7. Dish Soap and Hot Water
Another helpful hack for unclogging a toilet with poop is using dish soap. We all know the texture of dish soap, which might help lubricate the toilet’s surface and unclog it.
Pour a cup of dish soap into the toilet bowl and wait 30 minutes. This works best if the bowl is not full of water.
You can therefore remove some water until it is about half full. However, If you are running low on dish soap, you can use bar soap shredded into small pieces.
After the half-hour make, dump a gallon of hot water inside the bowl if the toilet is not yet unclogged. This will help the clog slide out into the drain.
If the toilet is clogged, let’s say by a bar of soap or toilet paper, hot water is more effective in dissolving these things than cold water.
Remove as much water as possible from the toilet and then dump a bucket of hot water into the bowl and wait. The water will break down the clog, which will, in turn, unclog the toilet.
More about this method in this post.
9. Use a Toilet Brush
If you are in a scenario where you have a clogged toilet without a plunger or an auger, use what is readily available—a toilet brush.
For effectively unclogging a toilet using the toilet brush, cover the front part where you have the bristles with a plastic bag. Insert the brush inside the bowl’s outlet and start plunging as you would with a plunger.
This is a simple method, yet it works surprisingly well.
How to Prevent Toilets from Clogging.
Most toilets clogs can be avoided. As we have established, toilet clogs occur when something that is not meant to be flushed ends up being flushed.
It is important to add that some people have a condition where they have large bowel movements, which have a tendency to block toilets. This is, however, more medical than behavioral.
These are some of the ways to avoid clogging the toilet.
- Do not flush down sanitary products
- Contraceptives like condoms should not be flushed
- Keep the toilet lid down to prevent foreign objects from falling
- Non-biodegradable wet wipes should not be thrown into the bowl
- Keep a trash can in the bathroom to encourage trashing of things that shouldn’t be flushed
- Don’t use too much toilet paper.
Why is My Poop So Big It Clogs the Toilet?
Big poop that clogs the toilet is a result of chronic constipation. It mostly starts when a child has the urge to use the bathroom but is constipated and resists it.
The brain, therefore, adopts that behavior and stops sending the signal that you need to use the bathroom. This leads to enlargement of the colon and the rectum, where the poop is temporarily stored before you go to the bathroom.
Eventually, you will have a big and hard poop that clogs the toilet when you go to the toilet.
To prevent big poops which clog a toilet, increase your intake of fiber-rich food, drink plenty of water, and increase your physical exercises.
Poop Stuck in the Toilet Won’t Flush
When your bowel movements are big or hard, the poop will possibly be stuck in the toilet drain opening. In this case, the one and only way of flushing the toilet is to break the poop into smaller pieces.
Whatever tool you decide to use is up to you. You can also pour a cup of vinegar into the bowl to break down the poop if you don’t want to do it physically. This, however, takes a bit of time.
How Do You Unclog a Toilet after a Big Poop?
A big and hard poop will most likely clog a toilet. It happens mostly if you are constipated. To unclog a toilet after a big poop, pour a cup of baking soda into the bowl, followed slowly by another cup of vinegar.
The fizzling will break your poop into smaller pieces that are easy to flush down. If you are a guest somewhere or basically if you don’t have the luxury of time or those products in sight, break the poop physically. Use the toilet brush to break it up and flush the toilet. Clean the brush thoroughly afterward.