It can be incredibly annoying when you find that one of your toilets is blocked, especially if you only have a single toilet in your home. In most cases, a few plunges with the plunger will be enough to free up the clog and see your toilet emptying normally. However, some clogs are more resilient. When the clog doesn't fix itself, you should consider calling an emergency plumber instead of continuing to fight the problem yourself, and here are just four reasons why.
1. You Could Lack the Proper Technique
There's a right way and a wrong way to use a plunger. In fact, some people use the wrong type of plunger altogether to unblock a toilet. You'll need to use the right strokes, keep the right amount of water in the bowl, and know exactly when to flush. If you don't get everything right, you'll fail to remove the blockage. This wastes time and possibly makes the issue worse.
2. You Could Worsen the Problem
You must be quite vigorous with the plunger when you're trying to unblock a toilet, but that's only advisable for a very short time. If you keep going at it and there's some kind of underlying issue, the pressure you create within the system could lead the further damage. In some cases, a toilet snake is required to get rid of the blockage – if you keep using the plunger, you could compact the blockage instead of removing it, making it much harder to break through when a plumber does arrive.
3. There Could Be Underlying Issues
Clogged toilets are sometimes only the first symptoms of larger problems. For example, the sewer lines could have suffered damage from tree roots, landslides, or corrosion. Such issues can impact plumbing both inside and outside of your home, and clogged toilets are one potential issue. You won't be able to identify those issues, and you'll be unable to do anything about them. A plumber will discern exactly what's wrong and then work to correct the problem.
4. You Could Cause an Overflow
It's relatively common for people who keep trying to unclog a toilet without the assistance of a plumber to cause unpleasant backflows. They keep flushing away in an attempt to dislodge the blockage, all the while increasing pressure with the plunger. Doing so can result in an overflow. It's never nice to have water flowing out over your bathroom floor, especially when the toilet hasn't been properly flushed for some time.
