The Best Way to Unclog a Toilet with Poop in It
Last Updated on January 5, 2022 by toilethaven
Unclogging a toilet can be can be a very easy 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 in it is by first emptying the bowl or draining it if it’s full of water and/or overflowing. Scoop the waste into an empty bucket then use a toilet plunger or auger to unclog it.
Hot water, dish soap baking soda and vinegar solution or a wire hanger are an excellent way 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. You need the rubber cup of the plunger to make a tight seal with the bowl’s outlet. This will however be impeded by the 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 you hand is a plunger and use your palm to force the waste down the drain. Believe me it works. Wash your hands with plenty of soap and and running water afterwards.
If you have rubber gloves, this is a very easy 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 that is used to unclog toilets. It creates a pressure differential between the top of the clog and the drainpipe and therefore 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.
If the clogged toilet is not overflowing with water, this method might work well. For the initial plunge, you will need to be very gentle, as this is when 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 then 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 he/she has 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 so it acts on it directly. Unlike a plunger, an auger head goes way into 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 is sitting at the toilet drain opening.
When everything is line up properly, start cranking the auger handle starting at a slow pace and increase the intensity gradually. When you feel any form of resistance, pull the auger out. The clog might have been hooked up.
If the clog was something like soap or toilet paper, the auger will shred them to pieces and thereby unclogging the toilet.
Retrieve the auger from the toilet slowly. When you do it abruptly the auger head can leave some unpleasant scratches on the toilet bowl.
4. Unclog the Toilet with Saran Wrap
Saran wrap or any other plastic wrap can be used to successfully unclog a toilet with poop in it. It is especially helpful when the toilet is full of water mixed with the poop.
Wrap the saran wrap around the toilet bowl several times to form a water tight seal. If 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 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 however 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 really less messy than other methods.
If the bowl is full of water, pail out some water into a bucket up to about the halfway mark. This however will be an unpleasant task.
Pour one cup of baking soda in the toilet bowl followed by 2 cup 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 a bit of an oomph, empty a gallon of hot water into bowl. This will help push everything down.
Do not however use boiling water as that might crack the toilet bowl. More about that on 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. It is hoped to work the way a toilet auger works, 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 unclogging 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 useful hack for unclogging a toilet with poop in it is by using dish soap. We all know the texture of dish soap and it might therefore help lubricate the surface of the toilet and therefore unclog it.
Pour about a cup of dish soap in to the toilet bowl and waiter for about 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. If you are however running low on dish soap you can altogether use bar soap, shredded into small pieces.
After the half hour make, if the toilet is not yet unclogged dump a gallon of hot water inside the bowl. 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 out 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 on this post.
9. Use a Toilet Brush
If you are in a scenario where you have a clogged toilet and 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 occurs when something that is not meant to be flushed end up being flushed.
Having said that, 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 as a result of chronic constipation. It mostly starts when one is a child, where they have the urge to use the bathroom but are constipated and therefore resist the urge.
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/or the rectum, where the poop is temporarily stored before you go to the bathroom.
When you eventually go to the toilet, you will have a big and hard poop which clogs the toilet.
To prevent having big poops which clog a toilet, increase your intake of food rich in fiber, 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. The one and only way of flushing the toilet in this case is to break the poop into smaller pieces.
Whatever tool you decide to use it 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, poor a cup of baking soda into the bowl, followed slowly by another cup of vinegar.
The fizzling will break your poop into smaller pieces which 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 at sight, break the poop physically. Use the toilet brush to break it up and flush the toilet. Clean the brush thoroughly afterwards.