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HELP! Toilet - wood stuck won't drain

15 years ago

I surely did something dumb. I was vacuuming with my rainbow vacuum (uses water) after work being done on the house and I picked up some small pieces of wood, and as I usually do I tossed the water and its contents down the toilet. Oh boy, that was dumb, and wood expands, and now the toilet is clogged. (you can not see any of the wood) what do I do?

- I have a plunger I have tried that

- I have a snake but can only go move it down the toilet so far, and can't get beyond that point.

- the water fills the bowl, but does not over flow thank goodness, and then the water will slowly drain (not toilet paper) if left unattended. If I use the plunger the water does eventually go down.

- So is there a product I can use to make the wood dissolve (i believe it is plywood)

- I have tried contacting the 2 plumbers I know but they are unavailable.

HELP!!!!

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Comments (7)

frodo_2009
15 years ago
take the tank off the bowl, and take the bowl outside
turn it upside down and get the peices out
then put it all bak togather again
or.......pay about $200.--250. for a plumber to do it
hendricus
15 years ago
You need a toilet auger with a hook on the end to catch the wood and bring it back up. Poking it with a snake won't help, you need to break it up by twirling the snake.
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Here is one more thing you can try if you have a shop vac: Turn of the water supply to the toilet and flush it a couple of times. Then push the shop vac hose down the toilet drain as far as it can go and turn the vac on. It may be able to remove an obstruction, like a toy. In my own case I had a very maintenance-free toilet start acting up just like yours. I tried to auger it and was about to give up and pull the toilet when I decided to try my shop vac. It worked immediately: after 10 seconds I pulled out a popsicle stick that someone who shall go nameless had flushed down the toilet, and it had wedged itself across the trap. Every time someone used toilet paper it would catch and wad up on the stick and almost cause the toilet to overflow.
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pjb999
15 years ago
Maybe you could stick the vacuum in there and vacuum it out? Probably a long shot.

Wood can survive hundreds, even thousands of years in water so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a natural solution.
davidandkasie
15 years ago
you will need to remove the toilet and fish it out. anythign that you try to hit the wood with to break it will also either break or scratch your bowl. as stated earlier, remove it, turn it upside down adn then wiggle it out.

don't forget to put a new wax ring on it! they are not reusable!

and from now on dump the vac outside if you are picking up any debris. better yet, use a regualr wet/dry vac to clean up the mess as the debris will likely ruin you other vacuum.
frodo_2009
15 years ago
did you get the crap out of your toilet?
I would like to know whats the outcome?
hendricus,pjb999,david an KC, ya'll wanna know?
GTANZER.....let us know man/she!!!! what did you do?
pjb999
15 years ago
We do want to know, and I'd like to add that toilets/the sewer system is not for the disposal of garbage.

You may be a global warming disbeliever or whatever, but from whatever side of politics/ethics/whatever you come from, polluting our waterways (and all treated or untreated effluent ends up interacting with the waterways) is not an acceptable practice.

At the very least, you should strain the water you are dumping but tipping the contents onto the lawn (again strained) is probably the best thing to do with such material.
gtanzer
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for all your help and support, with my drain problem.
I finally had it fixed yesterday 3/4/09

I am so glad I have an extra bathroom
- Frodo. I called a plumber Â many charge a fortune as you stated. But I found someone www.assuredlabor.com very affordable, professional and nice.
Hendricus - The Toilet auger worked for the plumber, but he was still nice enough to take it apart and check it.
Pjb999 - tried the rainbow vac, to try to pull out the wood pieces, but did not work. That was my thought about the wood, lasting forever. Thanks for the heads up on the sewer system, remember I said it was a dumb thing to toss in toilet to begin with. (my town has a water treatment plant, I pay enough taxes, might as well get some use of it) Not to worry I wonÂt destroy the planet.
Davidandkasie Â thanks for that info, about taking it apart and the wax ring, patience is a virtue in this case. Rainbow vacuums works well but I agree a wet/dry vac is a better solution.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.assuredlabor.com

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