Many of us have had the sickening incidence of flushing a toilet, and instead of waste going down, it quickly rises in the toilet bowl, leaving you embarrassed and frustrated. When dealing with a toilet clog, using a toilet auger best suits the task of unclogging.
How to use a toilet auger is a question that will come to your mind in this desperate moment. A toilet auger is a tool that is used to maneuver the toilet drainage, to remove clogs and obstruction blocking the toilet drain. It also clears the water closet trap way.
For this reason, the toilet auger is also known as the plumbing snake. The auger is a long flexible metallic shaft with an auger bit on one end and a crank handle on the other end. Characteristics of the auger’s parts such as the length of the shaft vary from one toilet auger to another. Longer shafts enable the auger to explore deeper depths of the toilet and, thus, perform more efficiently.
Best way to use a toilet auger- A Complete Guide
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A toilet auger is the most suitable item for unclogging a toilet and is much better than a plunger since it breaks up the blockage. Thus, the blockage can freely flow down to the waste line. This is quite unlike the plunger that only pushes waste from the toilet to the waste line. Every auger has a closed coil head that enables it to push through the clogs, an open coil head that makes it easy to hook onto an object and a fixed head that makes it go through the narrow drainage freely.
In this article, we seek to enlighten you on some of the steps that you should follow in case you are at the end of your wits about how to use an auger to unclog a toilet.
01 Get to know all the parts of the auger
First and foremost, you should carefully inspect the auger’s features before you start to use it on any task. Get to familiarize yourself with the auger’s parts and how it works. A good auger should have a flexible cable connected to its handle, to enable the movement through the narrow tube. When you begin to unclog, the handle should remain inside the tube while the cable hangs outside.
02 Unhooking the cable
At this point, you need to make the cable hang freely by unfastening the cable from the tube. By doing this, you can easily control the auger with the handle.
03 Pull the handle up
Before inserting the auger into the toilet, you need to pull its handle up. The handle is connected to the cable. The failure to pull up the handle can easily make the cable go further down the tube.
04 Inserting to the toilet
With the auger pointing in the right direction, carefully and slowly insert it into the clogged toilet. Make sure the cable’s tip is pointing to the drain pipe.
05 Push the handle down
When pushing the handle down the drainage pipe, you should apply some pressure while rotating the auger clockwise, simultaneously. The push, application of pressure, and clockwise rotation enable the cable to get deeper into the toilet’s drainpipe.
06 Reaching the blockage
You should continue pushing the auger down the drainpipe until you feel as if something is hindering your cable from going deeper and making it hard to push further down. The hindrance means that your cable has reached the actual obstruction in your toilet.
07 Removing the blockage
After reaching the blockage, you should remove it by pulling the handle upward while still rotating the auger in a clockwise motion. By doing this, the blockage gets wrapped around the cable and becomes possible to pull out of the drain pipe. If the blockage has not been drained or has not reached the toilet bowl, then you need to repeat the process until you get the desired results. Your toilet should flush and drain properly when the clog has been completely pulled out.
08 Cleaning up the cable and the toilet
Use an old piece of cloth to clean the remaining blockage stuck in your cable and throw the waste away. Use a mop to clean up the dirty water on the toilet floor. Return your auger to its storage point since your work is done.
Final Verdict:
As a tool, an auger needs a lot of care when handling it. You need to take note of a few points when handling this tool. First, an auger is a blunt tool that requires one to use force. Therefore, the user needs to be very careful when handling it to avoid breaking it.
A broken auger may worsen and lengthen the unclogging process if it comes apart inside the toilet. This is because the user will have to dismantle the toilet to retrieve the broken portion. Therefore, your auger should be well maintained so that it works efficiently. Conversely, the application of excessive force can make the auger crack.
There are other extra measures you can take to get the best outcome when thinking on how to use an auger to unclog a toilet.
First, make sure you push the cable slowly into and out of the drain to prevent breakage. Again, remember that since the toilet auger comes with different designs, you must acquaint yourself with the features of the auger at your disposal. Taking extra care to recoil the cable is paramount since it can break easily.
If you did not manage to remove the clog with the toilet auger, it is highly advisable to contact a professional plumber for better diagnoses and solutions with pinpoint accuracy. Also, keenly note every troubleshooting issue that arises when clearing a clog. You must also exercise patience when working with a drum auger toilet. Patience hinders you from using excessive force and giving up too soon. Your toilet auger is likely to last longer if you use it with measured force and store it well.
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