Few things are as messy and unpleasant for homeowners to deal with as a clogged toilet. If you live in a home with only one bathroom, it can also be a relatively urgent situation. When going to work with a plunger yields no results, you should think twice before reaching for a bottle of commercially-available liquid drain cleaner.
At first blush, liquid drain cleaner might seem like the solution to all of your problems. After all, it’s designed to bust tough clogs in your sink, shower and bathtub drains. What it’s not formulated for, however, is the toilet.
If your toilet isn’t flushing at all, the chemicals in a commercial drain cleaner almost certainly will not be able to reach the blockage. Most clogs form beyond the top of the S-trap, so the drain cleaner will generally sit in the bowl and never come into contact with the clog at all.
Furthermore, most drain cleaners are comprised of caustic lye and other dangerous chemicals, often including sodium hydroxide. When sodium hydroxide comes into contact with water, it reacts by generating extreme heat. Not only can this chemical reaction melt the wax seal between the base of your toilet and the sewer opening, it can also cause hairline stress fractures and cracks in the toilet bowl.
It’s natural to come back to the plunger method when a liquid drain cleaner fails to perform, but doing so increases the risk of skin irritation and injury resulting from contact with these corrosive chemicals as the water in the toilet splashes back onto you. Rather than taking your chances with dangerous and potentially destructive chemicals intended for sink, tub and shower drains, it’s best to call a licensed plumber in your area.
