unclog toilet with bleach

Can Bleach Unclog My Toilet?

So you’re dealing with a clogged toilet. Maybe you’ve done your best to plunge the offending mass away, but to no avail.

What else can you do to get rid of the blockage? Is bleach capable of unclogging your toilet?

And more importantly, is this method safe to use?

Can Bleach Unclog My Toilet?

bleach

You might think that bleach seems powerful enough to unclog anything. After all, it’s a powerful disinfectant and cleaner.

But bleach will only be effective at unclogging your toilet if you use it alongside other declogging methods like using a plunger or plumbing snake.

There are some advantages to using bleach. It’s less likely to cause damage to your pipes than chemical drain cleaners.

And it will work to disinfect your entire piping system, so it can get rid of mold, mildew, and bacteria.

But it might also react badly with certain substances in the toilet. At worst, it might create noxious gases.

Always make sure you’ve double-checked with a professional before you mix anything with bleach to clean something.

How Does Bleach Unclog Your Toilet?

If you do want to try using bleach to unclog your toilet, you should also have hot water on hand. These are the items you’ll need:

  • 1-2 cups of bleach
        
  • 2 gallons of boiling (or just-boiled) water
        
  • Rubber gloves
        
  • Goggles
        
  • A fan for ventilation

Those last three items are extremely important for protecting the health of your eyes, skin, and lungs. As mentioned, you should make sure there are no substances in the toilet that might react badly with the bleach.

Follow these steps:

  • Put on the gloves and goggles. If you can, wear a long-sleeved shirt and long pants to protect your skin from potential splashes.
        
  • Turn on the bathroom fan, open the door, and open the windows of your home for     ventilation. This will keep fumes from building up in the house.
        
  • Pour a cup of bleach into the toilet.
        
  • Leave it to sit for 10 minutes so it can work on the clog.
        
  • Fill the toilet bowl about halfway with your boiling water.
        
  • Wait for 7 more minutes.
        
  • Flush the toilet 2 or 3 times.
        
  • Use the rest of your hot water to chase any remaining clog down the drain.

It’s important to note that this isn’t foolproof. A combination of baking soda and vinegar might work better than bleach.

Bleach won’t dissolve everything in your pipes, but it will disinfect things very well.

Will Bleach Dissolve Toilet Paper?

Bleach doesn’t dissolve toilet paper. It also doesn’t dissolve hair.

So if you know that your clog is caused by too much toilet paper or hair, bleach isn’t going to be your best call overall.

Some clogs will be too much for bleach to handle. In these cases, you’ll need to use tools like a drain snake to dislodge the clog.

A professional plumber might have to intervene, depending on how deep the clog is in your pipes.

Is Using Bleach To Unclog Toilets Safe For Your Plumbing?

using bleach to toilet

Bleach is capable of sanitizing your toilet by killing bacteria, mold, and mildew. It is one of the most powerful sanitizing agents there is.

But it won’t actually eat through the hair, soap scum, or toilet paper that create clogs.

It’s unlikely that bleach will eat through your pipes the same way that drain cleaning chemicals might. But there are other considerations to keep in mind.

One is that the substance might react with liquid in your pipes, creating noxious gases.

If these gases escape into the home, they could cause serious health damage or even death. If they build up in the pipes, they could back up your system even further or lead to explosions and fire hazards.

Since the declogging benefits of bleach are negligible, it might be a good idea to avoid it instead.

Conclusion

Some people use bleach to unclog their toilet. But the most that bleach can do is to act as a sanitizing agent.

If you combine this with boiling water, you may be able to unclog the toilet — but the hot water was the cause, not the bleach.

If you want to sanitize your pipes, you might consider bleach. But bleach can also react badly with chemicals and liquids in your pipes.That can lead to dangerous situations.

If you’re having trouble getting rid of a toilet clog with plunging alone, you might need to use a plumber’s snake or other tool like an auger. It’s always best to double check with a plumber before you do anything drastic to clear a clog.