A blocked toilet is the kind of plumbing headache that hits Brisbane homes the hardest – especially when the wet season sends everything down the pipes at once. No matter what’s going on below that engaging novel as you’re sitting on The Throne, all you really hope for is that when you hit the flush button, that’s the end of the story.
But we all know that sinking feeling, don’t we?:
- The flush fails
- The water (and everything else) rises.
Most of us know pretty well how to unblock a toilet with a plunger or a big kettle of water – and understand that this isn’t the time AT ALL for wild, weird experiments. Get it wrong, and you’re risking overflows, cracked bowls, or – even worse, believe us – raw sewage where it shouldn’t be.
So let’s start with the safe DIY basics, shall we?
Why toilets block in Brisbane – And why caution counts
Where we live, it’s humid, wet and hot – and old clay pipes make clogs a fact of life, although they can occur anywhere and everywhere across the region. Think grease, gunk, debris, so-called “flushable” wipes – even kids’ toys.
So: What are the tried-and-tested fixes?
- A plunger (10-15 pumps)
- A cup of dish soap with hot water, left for 10 minutes, then flushed.
Approaches like these – although there are some more – work well for most unblock toilet jobs. If you stray from these, you’re really gambling with a big, gross, unhealthy mess or expensive damage. Trust us – we’ve seen the fallout.
5 extreme ways people tried to unblock a toilet
Over the years, you can probably understand that our Brisbane plumbers have seen and heard some WILD stories about homeowners desperate to unclog a toilet. We’ve thought about our top oddball 5 – some defying logic and winning, others crashing, burning … and overflowing.
1. The coat hanger twist
Someone unravelled a wire coat hanger, bent it into a hook, and fished around in the bowl.
Doesn’t sound too weird, does it? But they actually snagged a big wad of paper, pulled it out – and scratched the porcelain so badly they decided to replace the entire toilet.
It was a risky win for how to unblock a badly blocked toilet – with a HUGE bill on top.
2. The coke & mentos bomb
Inspired by viral videos they’d seen, here’s what they did:
- Poured the cola and dropped the Mentos in
- Hoped and prayed the fizz would blast the clog free
- Realised it was a big mistake.
In reality, the toilet turned into a sticky volcano – messy, fizzy, and still blocked. Consider this to be NOT a fix for how to unclog a toilet fast – just a cleanup nightmare.
3. The vacuum cleaner vortex
Ok, get this – They sealed a wet-dry vac hose over the drain and sucked with full power. Sounds either ingenious or insane, right?
Actually, it worked! The suction yanked out a small toy car, clearing the blocked toilet. But just remember: vacuums aren’t built for sewage. One wrong move, and it’s toast. So this person was lucky … not smart.
4. The boiling water overload
Someone else dumped a whole kettle of boiling water straight in. Doesn’t sound too ridiculous, does it? After all, we’d expect that to melt the clog into oblivion.
In reality, it was a total disaster. The intense heat CRACKED the particularly-brittle bowl, while the clog stayed put, exactly where it was. It was a costly lesson that even DIY methods that seem tried-and-tested in unblocking toilet problems can seriously go wrong.
Remember: Hot water, not boiling water, is your friend.
5. The garden hose blast
Another person decided to:
- Shove their garden hose down the drain
- Crank it to full blast
- And hope for the best to jet the clog away. Hooray!
So: What happened? We’d call it a partial win.
It actually shifted some gunk, which is great, but here’s the issue – water sprayed out everywhere and completely soaked the entire bathroom. And we mean SOAKED.
It was an extremely messy half-solution to how to unblock toilet clogs – and almost certainly not worth a flood.
How the Pros unblock a toilet
Hopefully, these DIY disasters will teach us at least one thing – toilet aren’t test laboratories! When we roll up to our next job, professionals know exactly how to unclog a toilet with no mess, no fuss, minimal disruption, and a workmanship guarantee. That sounds reassuring, doesn’t it?
We use professional augers, ultra high-pressure hydro-jets at thousands of PSI, high-definition CCTV drain inspection cameras, and so much more. No mess, no scratch, no risk, no stress – just results.
When it comes to people trying to unclog a toilet fast without calling a plumber for blocked drains, we say good luck – but stick to the trusty plunger, because it’s your friend. As for the weird stuff? Leave it alone. There’s a reason ‘the professionals’ call themselves that – because we have the edge.
How to unblock a toilet? Try S&J Plumbing and Gasfitting
So, the next time your flush says “Nah”, understand the risks and go for the smartest move. Toilet still blocked? It really is time to call in the pros.
S&J Plumbing and Gasfitting’s friendly team brings all the equipment, experience and know-how – because if there’s anything we know, it’s how to unblock a toilet fast, all across Brisbane – from Brisbane Northside, Brisbane Southside, Logan, Moreton Bay, Redland Bay and far beyond. Reach out today and flush your headache away!