How to Clear a Toilet Clog using a Closet Auger

Ramona's Plumber, Greg Chick, shows how to clear a soft clog in a toilet using a closet auger. Using this inexpensive tool (about $35 at the home store), and a little practice you can save hundreds of dollars in plumbing service-call costs with each use.

For this video, Greg created a clog in a toilet drain using paper towels. During the unclogging process there is some rust colored water visible in the bowl - That IS rust from the auger itself, not anything nastier that that.

Greg talks about how to diagnose if the plug is in the toilet, or farther down the drain; he talks about the closet auger and demonstrates its use; and how to check for a common reason the toilet clogged in the first place.

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"Can you do it? Yes, you can, and I can help"

Music by Jon Hasz, Ramona Music Center
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jon-hasz/id382796874

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• ramonas
• plumber
• Ramona
• toilet
• plumbing
• clog
• closet
• auger
• snake
• stopped
• flush

[ramonasplumber]

No, that is silly, I did however learn to apply one discipline to another. I have been to countless mfgr. "classes" on Toilet Design. Classes on function and repair, proper installation as well as Code Committee meetings spending countless hours debating more aspects of a Toilet than most people know even exist. I can show you the test protocol for MAP testing on siphon jet, wash-down, Pressure assist, flushometer floor discharge, wall discharge Toilets, Vacuum toilets. out of space

[fszron]

@ramonasplumber I fixed mine by pouring boiling water (with the water supply turned off) and then flushing after 30 minutes.

[GamSpoley]

You literally just spent your whole carrier fixing toilets?

[Ph4nt4sm4ge]

@ramonasplumber it seems that delicate moves and technique isnt my style.I filled the bowl(just a slight bit before overflow) and went on forcefully with the plunger.It actually worked even though i didnt expect it to.At least all those workouts didnt go to waste

[ramonasplumber]

@Ph4nt4sm4ge The sequence is 1. auger, or Wet dry vac. ($50 for a strong enough one.).

Then pull bowl. Shut off water, flush tank, disconnect water supply, Vac out bowl, un do two bolts at floor, rock bowl left to right to break free from floor, put upside down, careful to not put force on tank to bowl joint, look into bowl outlet with flashlight. Try auger in to outlet to push out to entrance.

You could always call a Pro. Accredited or Licensed Green Plumbers should be good.

[Ph4nt4sm4ge]

@ramonasplumber i have little to none previous experience so i find that a quite risky

but it will be my last resort as soon as i see that there is no other way,thanks for the quick response though

[ramonasplumber]

@Ph4nt4sm4ge 36" is needed to go into bowl. Possibly pull the bowl from floor and go in the bottom to push it in reverse the way it went in.

[Ph4nt4sm4ge]

@ramonasplumber currently i dont have a vac(recently moved in),the toilet is fairly new since its only a 10year old building but i dont actually know any specs.Anyways its frustrating cause i don't really know if i've hit the end or not whenever the wire stops(though it seems relatively deep) but i know that i havent been able to get past a certain point so i've been trying to shove the wire hard against the obstruction and it sounds like plastic not sure though since i can barely hear it.

[ramonasplumber]

@Ph4nt4sm4ge Get a real closet auger, Home ctrs. have them 30 to 50 bucks. The cable is thick enough to not twist back. What make toilet, How old toilet? have you used a wet dry vac?

[Ph4nt4sm4ge]

@ramonasplumber john locke from "Lost" series, been studying the vid due to the toilet deodorant destroying my day and u kinda look like the guy :P

By the way the auger i got is only a wire and a handle(without the straight plastic part to contain it) and gives me hell when i try to operate it cause the part outside the pipes keeps twisting around and displacing the whoe thing,any tips ?