Page 1 of 1 [ 12 posts ] 

beneficii
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 May 2005
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,245

26 Mar 2015, 9:27 pm

Last Friday, the toilet got clogged. After trying a plunger and an auger, the toilet overflowed a few times. Then I thought, Hey, I have lye crystals. Let's try pouring those down the toilet! And so I did, and the toilet overflowed a few more times. Then I bought a wet vac, because the water in the toilet was not draining at all, and decreased the amount of water in the toilet several times. I also tried pouring in a lye-water solution I had made in a high-pressure spray bottle previously, because I was trying to blind myself in my right eye. Nothing helped. Then I used the wet vac to drain most of the water in the bowl so I could plunger it. It didn't really do anything except cause sizzling noises--apparently, the remaining lye crystals in the bowl mixed with the water finally creating a new lye-water solution in the toilet bowl. I could only see the cloud in the water; I could no longer see the lye crystals.

The other drains in the house work just fine; it's just the blasted toilet!


_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin


beneficii
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 May 2005
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,245

26 Mar 2015, 10:32 pm

Now the auger doesn't work, and I'm feeling a no. 2 coming on!

Too bad it couldn't come earlier, cause it's gonna get cold tonight.


_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin


mr_bigmouth_502
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Dec 2013
Age: 30
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 7,028
Location: Alberta, Canada

27 Mar 2015, 12:46 am

Why is this in the LGBT section?



Booyakasha
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 Oct 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,898

27 Mar 2015, 6:50 am

Moved from LGBT discussion.



slenkar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Apr 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,146
Location: here

27 Mar 2015, 10:42 am

I dont know if this will work for you,
but I got a wire coat hanger and unwound it.

So I have this long wire, then I bent the end so it is hooked.

Then I shoved it as far into the bowl as possible. It came back with a piece of toilet paper about 3 times, then the toilet was unclogged.

I dont know the chances of that working for you.

The other thing to try is to unbolt the toilet from the floor, but you would have to totally drain the bowl and tank first.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,605
Location: the island of defective toy santas

27 Mar 2015, 12:55 pm

when my toilet stopped working, I had to go outside like an animal for several months until I could get somebody to fix it for me. :oops: Image



Iamaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Mar 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,183
Location: Irrelevant

27 Mar 2015, 7:08 pm

You could always get a 5 gallon bucket, some construction site (or contractor) heavy duty (or dooty if you prefer) garbage bags, and see if the camping section of a general store has a lid that's designed for the 5 gallon buckets. Having a form of toilet is better than having no toilet at all, but I do hope you can get it fixed somehow (although it sounds like you've done everything you can think of). Hope things get better for you there.


_________________
I'm an author: https://www.amazon.com/author/benfournier
Sub to my YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Iamnotaparakeet
"In the kingdom of hope, there is no winter."


886
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,663
Location: SLC, Utah

28 Mar 2015, 6:47 am

You're not stupid, but you probably should've calmed down before you made a bunch of quick decisions and possibly caused water damage. Water getting in drywall can be very serious, mold can ruin your walls faster than anything.

If it's that serious just buy a snake, every hardware store chain sells them and every employee will know what you need.


_________________
If Jesus died for my sins, then I should sin as much as possible, so he didn't die for nothing.


beneficii
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 May 2005
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,245

28 Mar 2015, 7:09 am

886 wrote:
You're not stupid, but you probably should've calmed down before you made a bunch of quick decisions and possibly caused water damage. Water getting in drywall can be very serious, mold can ruin your walls faster than anything.

If it's that serious just buy a snake, every hardware store chain sells them and every employee will know what you need.


Actually, an auger (a.k.a. a snake) was the first thing I tried.

EDIT: And let me just say: Augers are pretty frustrating things to use. And yes I used a toilet auger, the one where the snake goes through that plastic thing that keeps the toilet from being damaged by the metal.


_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin


beneficii
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 May 2005
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,245

28 Mar 2015, 8:13 am

Well, I went to Home Depot and the guy helped me out with my auger. I've confirmed it still works. I'll try it again sometime today.


_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin


beneficii
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 May 2005
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,245

28 Mar 2015, 9:17 am

Iamaparakeet wrote:
You could always get a 5 gallon bucket, some construction site (or contractor) heavy duty (or dooty if you prefer) garbage bags, and see if the camping section of a general store has a lid that's designed for the 5 gallon buckets. Having a form of toilet is better than having no toilet at all, but I do hope you can get it fixed somehow (although it sounds like you've done everything you can think of). Hope things get better for you there.


I'm able to get back use of the toilet via the use of a wet vac. I fill the wet vac a little bit of the way with soap water, and suck the liquid out of the toilet.


_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin


Eurythmic
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 1 Jan 2013
Age: 48
Gender: Male
Posts: 514
Location: Australia

29 Mar 2015, 5:40 am

beneficii wrote:
I also tried pouring in a lye-water solution I had made in a high-pressure spray bottle previously, because I was trying to blind myself in my right eye.


You were trying to do what?

An old solution of lye in water is ineffective for clearing blockages in pipes, indeed putting hydroxide salts into toilets can dissolve the seal on the bottom of the pan and result in contaminated water leaking everywhere.

Have you been able to find where the blockage is with the auger?