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Are you in a situation where the water is off to your home — and you need to flush something down the toilet? Yeah, we’ve all been there. I know this can be a stressful experience, especially when you really don’t want it hanging out! Keep reading for a quick “how to” for getting your toilet back up and running.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through two ways to get it flushed ASAP even if the water is off.
Rather watch than read? Check out this 3-minute video.
Can you still flush a toilet without running water?
Fortunately, yes. You have two options depending on if there’s still water in your tank or not.
Option 1: Flushing if you still have water in your tank
If you have water in your tank, you’re in luck. (If not, go to option 2.)
Even when the water is off, you should still have a full tank of water that will give you one extra flush. Think of it as a “backup” flush. However, you only get one because you’re not going to be able to fill that tank back up again.
So check your tank, if it does have water in it — go ahead and press on the handle to get the one flush. You should be good to go for now.
Option 2: Manually flushing without any water in your toilet tank
If you don’t have water in your tank, don’t worry. It’s still pretty easy. Follow these two simple steps to flush your toilet without running water.
First, you’ll need a bucket, a pitcher, anything to hold about a gallon and a half of water.
Each toilet is a little different, but if you look on the back of your toilet you should see how many gallons/liters per flush you need.
If you don’t see it there, take the cover off your tank and you’ll likely see it printed on the inside of the tank. This will give you an idea how much water you want. Usually, I go a little bit more than the recommendation.
Second, simply dump the water in the toilet. Watch @01:30 in the video above to see this demonstration.
Hopefully these two simple steps got you out of what can be a little bit of an embarrassing or uncomfortable situation. You may be tempted to press the toilet handle after, but there’s no need!
Pro Tip: Save a little water after the toilet flushes to ensure you’re filling up the bowl a bit and creating a seal that won’t allow sewer gases to escape back into the room.
Why does a bucket of water manually flush a toilet?
There’s a standard amount of water after a flush that stays in a bowl and the trap. This completely blocks off your trap or your connection to the drain where sewer gases could come back through and out into your home which obviously you do not want.
The water level stays in there because you cannot overcome gravity and the water is not going to go up over the trap until you introduce water that creates a downward pressure from what’s called “head pressure.” That will push the water up and over your trap, creating a suction or a siphon effect that then will flush out all the water (and anything else in the water), pushing that down into the drain
The siphon effect continues on until you hear the “gurgling” at the end of a flush, which is air being introduced that breaks that suction and stops the flushing cycle. That’s all there is to it!
If you’re as fascinated by how a toilet works as I am, check out this post about the workings of toilets.
Why would my toilet suddenly get clogged and stop working?
There are a variety of reasons why you may be dealing with this issue in the first place.
- Is your water shut-off valve turned on completely? It might just need a quick reset, which would save you a visit from the plumber.
- Make sure there’s a connection with the chain that connects the flapper to the toilet handle. You’ll need to lift the top of the tank to do this. If it looks a little loose, you may need to adjust the length slightly.
- You could have a clogged pipe, which would make a plunger useful. This is particularly likely if there’s a build-up with paper materials like paper towels or other similar products. So just something to keep in mind to prevent this from happening again.
If none of this applies to your situation, check out this helpful post from Lowe’s about common toilet problems or consider calling a plumber for support.
The Wrap Up
Overall, manually flushing a toilet is a lot easier than many people think. While it’s probably not something you’ll want to do long-term, it is a simple quick fix in a pinch.
