An evening unblocking the toilet

[Spreckly]

Unsure where to put this exactly, but DIY seems the most suitable. Our upstairs loo blocked tonight. We have regular problems with the downstairs WC, and having a septic tank means regular lifting (by OH), of the inspection chambers. A quick poke with the drain rods normally sorts matters.

Never had a blocked upstairs loo before, but after buckets of water, poured at waist height, poking the bend with electric cable, pieces of wire, and even part of a hose pipe, we were flummoxed. Not a plunger in the house, and next door neighbour hadn't one either. I only cleaned the bathroom yesterday, and OH had had a shower and changed into his decent gear..... So I resorted to the internet for advice, while OH got more annoyed with the blockage.

Several remedies were mentioned, but one was to use the toilet brush inside a plastic bag, and use as per a plunger. OH tried this, no joy. So I tried another site, and a floor mop was recommended inside a plastic bag. Joy of joys, it has worked. Used a pint of mixed bicarb and water, just to help things along, and another clean of the loo and surrounding area.

Just thought this tip might be useful for anyone with a future problem, but what a way to spend an evening! The back yard is littered with electric cable, wire, my floor mop, etc. I have done an unexpected load of washing as well.

[Totally Scrambled]

Note to husband:- please block up the toilet at work, not at home
Dom

[Maggie1]

Is your septic tank an old one Spreckly, that has to be emptied more times than the new ones. Why I say that is the locals round here have the older type. Every so often they chuck a dead rabbit or road kill in the tank and it saves being emptied so often.

[p.penn]

Oh dear Spreckly - I don't envy you that. Our 6 cottages share an ancient septic tank and it occasionally presents problems.

[Gwenoakes]

Dont envy you at all with that one, Spreckly. We had probs with our septic tank/cess pit, it is very old and the advice for putting dead you know what in it worked, it sounds gross I know, but give it a try. It makes nasty bacteria to do the deed and eat everything up. We were told this by the man who empties ours and he also said there should be a thick crust on the top if it is working properly.

[redoak]

I'm always being asked to unblock people's toilets, never a pleasant job. The last one was when a friend had visitors staying for a couple of weeks. All the pipes were completely clogged with hundreds of cleaning wipes!! - took me ages to get them out.

[mrs boodles]

Yucky Yucky Yuck, what a way to spend an evening Spreckly, it happens though does`nt it. In Greece, where we were and even at airport you can`t flush loo paper etc: down loos as pipes can`t cope with it, they have a bin there for paper etc: found this pretty gross first time but suppose like most things, you get used to it. Hope you have a pleasenter (is there such a word) this evening.

[ChrisG]

Sounds like you had a fun evening - not! Must remember the mop and bag trick for next time ours blocks. Can you still buy those big black plunger things? They used to be in everyone's house at one time, but havent seen one for years.

Never heard of the dead animal in the septic tank though. Where we are hoping to build our new house will have to have septic tank drainage - it would be two or three miles to the nearest mains drains

[Spreckly]

Thanks for the tip about the dead animal, Maggie. A new one on me.

It was the actual loo itself which was blocked. We had the nightmare of a blocked outlet from the septic tank between Christmas and New Year in 2011 The Council and Water Board were on holiday, and we paid over a hundred pounds to have it privately emptied, only to have it fill up again the following day. Council and WB would have had the plans for the drains. We got it sorted, but only after we had to bucket all my waste water into the road drain when it was dark!

[Mrs B]

Just remember not to us that mop head on the kitchen floor Spreckly

Wish I had known the dead animal trick years ago as we also getting our septic tank emptied.