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Have you ever used a toilet that didn’t flush well? Stuck with the embarrassing obligation of waiting in the bathroom until you are able to flush the toilet again? This problem makes it harder to keep your toilet bowl clean and wastes water since you have to flush more than one time. Here are some home remedies that will help improve the overall power of your toilet flush!
Step #1: Figure out if your toilet is clogged. You can do this by pouring a gallon of water into your toilet and flushing it. If the toilet doesn’t flush efficiently then you most likely have a clogged toilet. You can unclog a toilet with a standard plunger or snake. If you don’t have either of these, you can check out our previous post on how to unclog a toilet without one. However, if the toilet does seem to flush properly than you can move on.
Step #2: Remove the toilet tank cover. Check to see if the water level in the tank is even with the designated line. If the water level isn’t matched up then you must use your water tank float assembly (located in your toilet tank) to adjust the water level accordingly.
Step #3: Check the toilet flush holes located around the rim of your toilet bowl. You may have to get on your hands and knees for this one. Sometimes these small holes that shoot water out during a flush can get clogged. This decreases the pressure of the water stream when you flush. Try using a bobby pin, coat hanger or a small drill bit and push it through these holes to clear up any blockage that may exist. Finally, flush the toilet and check for improvement in power of the water pressure.
Step #4: Clean out your toilet using bleach. Before you do this, make sure to turn off your toilet’s water tank supply. A tube coming out from either the wall or the floor should contain the water supply valve. Turn the knob of the valve to the right to completely shut off the water. Next, pour a gallon of bleach into your toilet bowl and let it sit for 15-20 minutes max. After you let the bleach sit, go ahead and flush the toilet. This allows the bleach to naturally work its way through your toilet system, cleaning out any built up blockage that has been reducing the flushing efficiency of your toilet. You may then turn the toilet water supply back on (allowing the tank to fill back up). Over the next 30 minutes, flush your toilet a few more times to thoroughly wash the bleach and unclog the blockage.
Step #5: The last step to improving flush power is a vinegar soak. First, open the lid of your toilet tank. If there is a rubber fill hose on top of the overflow tube, carefully remove the fill hose. Use a funnel and place it on the tube inside of your toilet tank. Take about a quart of white vinegar and pour it in the tube through the funnel. Let the vinegar sit for at least 2 hours. The vinegar disinfects and helps to relieve junk deposits that have been building up in your toilet system.
Taking the time to go through these five steps should improve the overall flushing power of your toilet. If you don’t see a difference after completing these
steps and are still experiencing weak toilet flushes, you may want to consider replacing your toilet system. Old toilets are harder to fix on your own and may require a complete replacement or the help of a professional plumber.
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This fixed my problem beautifully. Saved so much money. Thank you for the post!!
Excellent website, but there might be a typo in Step #4. Should it read: …pour a gallon of bleach into your “toilet tank”…
(not “toilet bowl”)?
Thank you,
KW
Thanks for the valuable information. I just wanna share one of my personal matters. Few days ago I was started to face a new problem with my flush tank. The tank is taking a huge time to refill with water after a flush. On that day after doing my stuff I pressed the flush button but there was no water to flush out the wastage. I thought a lot and decided to fill the tank with tap water. I used my handheld bidet to fill the tank and flushed out the pees perfectly. The feelings was great…
Sharon the reason your tank doesn’t fill quickly is because the water hose of your toilet is very low and the water need to fill the tank is not enough… what you need to do is open more the water valve and let the toilet get the water it needs so you don’t have to refill it. Toilets are design to get its water after each flush…
great tutorial! Having the slow flushing issue for so long. Read your blog and watched some YouTube videos. It helped! Now the flush is just like the way I want.
Thank you. I took a piece of heavy wire and cleaned the little holes under the rim of the toilet. I don’t know if the holes were clogged by calcium (we have high calcium content in our water) or by left over coating during the manufacture of the toilet. But about half of the holes were very clogged. After cleaning all the holes the toilet works much better.
Thanks for mentioning how older toilets are hard to fix and may require the help of a professional plumber. We recently got a good deal with a fixer-upper of a property, and we noticed how old the plumbing system is in the place. I’ll be sure to reach out to reputable plumbing services that can improve the flush power right away.
Put a bucket full of water in the commode and drains wonderfully … cleaned out the holes with coat hanger and they seem fine … tried putting drain cleaner in the flush tube and let it sit for an hour … no change just won’t complete the flush …. other two toilets in house are fine …. seems so simple but just can’t fix it … any ideas?
My three year old toilet wasn’t flushing well, and occasionally not at all. I tried all the regular recommendations. Nothing worked so I called the plumber. He checked it out and said I probably needed a new toilet. No way!!! I tried the bleach/vinegar method described above. It worked like a charm.
Thank you. I call it “The $7.00 solution”.
Prtso@yahoo.com
Step 4
Do I put the bleach in the empty toilet tank or bowl? With water in the lank
We’ve got a Saniflo macerator on our toilet and the flush seems to shoot the water over the toilet water rather than into it resulting in needing two or three flushes for solids. I’ve cleaned the holes to no avail.Any advice please?
Low-flush toilets don’t seem to flush enough water down the drain to clear the line . The old “water-waster never had this problem. It’s not a cleaning problem some of these new toilets are not very efficient, I now flush 3-4 times just to use enough water to clear the line.
Sometimes the flush holes at the front and back ie the two big ones are far too large so water takes the easiest route and most of the water just pours out these and not enough from the small jets so not creating a whirlpool effect, this is down to bad moldings in the wc pan, this could be the problem with some it was with mine!