Blocked toilet clearance

The toilet is not going anywhere and someone will need it soon. Drainage Emergency clears blocked toilets across Derby and Derbyshire 24/7. We work from the nearest chamber where possible, so the bathroom stays clean. A blocked toilet that will not flush away, or fills and drains slowly, usually has a cause. Wipes, too much paper or an object are stuck in the pan or the soil pipe behind it.

Here is how to tell whether it is the toilet, the pipe or drain. We also cover what to do while you wait, and what the engineer does on arrival. Or call 01332 215521 and let the engineer decide.

Why toilets block

Most blocked toilets are caused by what went down them. Wet wipes are the biggest single cause, including the ones sold as flushable. They do not break down like paper, and mat together in the first bend. Too much paper, cotton buds and sanitary products make up most of the rest.

A toilet that blocks once and clears with a plunger has caught something in the trap. The trap is the S-shaped bend built into the pan. It is the narrowest point in the system.

If the pan clears and the toilet blocks a few days later, the problem is behind the pan. Waste leaves the toilet into the soil pipe, usually 100 millimetres across. The soil pipe drops down the outside wall as the soil stack and joins the underground drain. A partial blockage anywhere along that route lets water through slowly. It catches more material with every flush.

Further down still, the toilet is often the first fixture to show a blocked main drain. On the 1980s and 1990s estates in Oakwood, the drains are uPVC and rarely collapse. There, wipes and fat in the main run are the usual explanation.

Is it the toilet or the drain?

Check the other fixtures first. If only the toilet is playing up, the blockage is in the pan or the pipe behind it. If the bath or shower drains slowly, or gurgles when the toilet is flushed, the fault is further down. The blockage is in the soil stack or the drain below it.

Then look outside. Most houses have an inspection chamber, the manhole in the garden or drive. It sits near where the soil stack enters the ground.

A lid wet around the edges, or standing water inside it, means the drain is blocked downstream of that chamber. The toilet is only the messenger. A dry chamber running clear means the fault is between the toilet and that chamber.

A blocked underground drain backs up to the lowest outlet first. That is why a downstairs toilet or a shower tray overflows while the upstairs bathroom seems fine.

A plumber is the right call if the fault is the cistern, the flush mechanism or a leaking pan connector. A drainage engineer is the right call for everything from the pan outwards. Ring 01332 215521, describe what you see, and we will tell you which you need before we arrive.

How we clear a blocked toilet

We clear a blocked toilet from the nearest access point rather than from the pan wherever we can. This keeps the bathroom clean. For a blockage behind the pan, the engineer lifts the inspection chamber outside. Then rods go back up the soil pipe towards the toilet. The blockage is pulled back into the chamber and removed, not pushed further along.

Where the blockage is in the pan, the engineer works through the trap by hand with a short auger.

Where fat and wipes have built up in the drain below the stack, we use high-pressure water jetting. This works from the chamber. The jet cuts through the build-up and washes it to the sewer. The engineer then confirms at the chamber that the flow is restored before packing up.

If the same toilet has blocked more than once in a year, a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera goes through the drain. This happens on the same visit. That shows whether a displaced joint or root ingress is catching material. It needs a drain survey and a repair, not another clearance.

What to do before the engineer arrives

Stop flushing. A second flush on a full pan is how a blockage becomes a flooded floor.

One go with a plunger is fine. Use a toilet plunger with a flange, seat it over the outlet and pump firmly. If the level drops, flush once to check. If it does not move, stop; more force only pushes the material further in.

No chemical unblockers. They do not work on wipes or objects. They leave a caustic pool for the engineer to work in, and they can damage older pipework.

Keep people off the upstairs toilets if the downstairs one is backing up. They drain into the same stack.

Blocked toilets in shops, pubs and rented homes

A blocked toilet in a business is a closure, not an inconvenience.

In the city centre and Cathedral Quarter, Georgian and Victorian buildings around the Silk Mill run on combined drains. One pipe carries foul waste and rainwater, shared between shops, pubs and the flats above. Kitchen grease ends up in the same pipe as the toilets, and out-of-hours callouts are the norm.

Two of our customer reviews describe exactly this. One is a retail shop with the toilet drain blocked on a Friday afternoon. The reviewer says Dave was on site within twenty minutes, and the shop was saved from flooding. The other is a pub with a blocked drain on a Saturday. Chris cleared it within half an hour of the call.

For landlords and letting agents, we attend rented properties across Derby. A private drain is the owner’s responsibility, so tenants should ring their landlord first. If the blockage is in a shared run or the sewer, it belongs to Severn Trent Water. We will say so.

Blocked toilets across Derby

In the late-Victorian terraces around Derby Arboretum in Normanton and Rose Hill, most houses have original salt-glazed clay drains. These have rigid joints, and shared runs between neighbours are common. A blocked toilet in one house is often a blockage that started next door.

Chaddesden is a few minutes from our office on Mansfield Road. Most of the east-Derby callouts start from there, so it and nearby estates usually get the quickest attendance. Its 1930s to 1960s semis have long back-garden runs to a rear gully, the grated outside drain. A toilet blockage there is normally rodded from the chamber at the house end.

Toilet clearance is part of our emergency drain unblocking service. See also blocked sink and shower unblocking and outside drain and gully unblocking.

Why call Drainage Emergency

We answer the phone 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We do this from 33a, Parker House, Mansfield Rd., Derby DE21 4SZ. Our engineers are fully qualified drainage engineers.

The names in our reviews, Chris, Dave and Phil, turn up. You get a quote before work starts with no hidden fees. You pay on completion for anything quoted under two thousand pounds, and we carry £5 million public liability insurance.

All 94 of our customer reviews are five star, and several are toilet jobs. One is a WC blockage that turned out to be affecting next door. Chris traced it rather than giving up. Customers regularly report us arriving within the hour.

Call 01332 215521, say which toilet and what it is doing, and we will send the nearest engineer. On arrival they will tell you whether it is the pan, the pipe or the drain. They will also say what clearing it costs, before they touch anything.