There are a number of reasons why a toilet might not be able to flush. Maybe your kid flushed something they shouldn’t have, or someone clogged it with too much toilet paper. The pipes could be frozen or something in the flushing mechanism might be damaged. Whatever the cause is, you’re probably desperate to know what to do next.

We’ve got some tips to help you when your toilet won’t flush.

If nothing happens when you press the handle

There could be various reasons behind this. Firstly, try running a tap to check that your home is still receiving a water supply. If not, then call your utilities provider to find out if there is a problem. There may be a disruption to service or a frozen pipe to blame, for example.

If you do have a water supply, then lift the lid of your tank. If there is no or little water in it, then something may be faulty, preventing the water level from rising. If the water level is high, then a fault with the flapper may be preventing the toilet from flushing. Call your local plumber to fix this kind of problem.

The toilet flushes but doesn’t properly clear its contents

Alternatively, your toilet may flush but not properly clear the waste, or it may not fill up the bowl with water after flushing. This, again, may be down to the water level in your tank being too low. Something is likely preventing the tank from refilling, so call a plumber to assess the problem.

In the meantime, if you need to clear waste from your toilet, try filling a bucket or large bowl with water and pouring this into the toilet bowl. This should manually flush the contents away, serving as an emergency measure until your toilet is repaired.

If the water level rises when you flush the toilet

In this case, your toilet is probably clogged. If you have a plunger, then use that to try to clear the blockage that’s causing the clog. If you’re successful, then the water and any waste should drain away, and the bowl should refill. You might need to flush the toilet again to properly clear everything.

If this doesn’t work, then you should call an emergency plumber to see to the clog. They can use specialist tools to clear the clog safely without causing any further damage to your plumbing.

If your toilet is clogged or just won’t flush, and the above solutions aren’t helping, then contact Brandon Plumbing for our expert assistance. We’ll send an emergency plumber to fix your clog or any other plumbing issues around Lewisville, Clemmons, and Winston Salem. Leave it to the professionals when you have drain and toilet issues to prevent doing any further damage to your plumbing.