How to Unclog a Toilet with Poop Still in it

Oh crap, literally.  Your toilet is clogged and worse, it’s got poop in the bowl.  How to unclog a toilet with poop still in it is a nasty job, but one we will explain below. 

A clogged toilet with poop is no fun at all.  It’s a dirty job, and you’ve got to do it now!  So, how to unclog a full toilet?  Read below to get your poop down the shoot fast. 

how to unclog a toilet with poop still in it
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How to Unclog a Toilet with Poop Still in it 

Sorry to hear about your “situation”.  Just so you know, a clogged toilet with poop happens more often than you think.  Usually, you’re toilet pipes are already clogging up and this extra poop and toilet paper just sealed the deal.  Let’s work on getting that clogged toilet with poop unclogged, then we can talk about how to prevent this from happening in the future with a toilet auger. 

Clogged Toilet With Poop: Supplies to Unclog a Toilet Fast 

You will need to get your bathroom ready before you try to unclog a toilet with poop in it.  Splashing poopy water all over isn’t the best idea.  Here’s our quick list of supplies you’ll need to unclog a full toilet.

There are a few steps you take before you even tackle a toilet clogged with poop.  First, get yourself some clothes on that you don’t mind getting dirty, long gloves, and even protective eye glasses.  You don’t want dirty poop water splashing onto you!   

Cover your floor with a drop cloth, some newspapers, even paper towels, to keep the nasty water off your floor and even your walls and vanity. 

My Toilet is Clogged with Poop: How to Unclog a Full Toilet

There are a few different ways you can do this, depending which tools you have handy.  You can either use a plunger, try a hanger, or even a toilet bowl brush.  The best tool for this if you don’t have a toilet auger is a plunger.

Plunging a Clogged Toilet with Poop in It

How do you unclog a toilet with poop still in it with a plunger?!?! First way is to wait (if you can) for the water level to go down.  This will reduce the amount of any splashing of the nasty toilet bowl water onto you and your bathroom.  You could also scoop excess water out of the bowl with a bucket or a wet vac.

Take your plunger and place it directly and tightly above the hole in your toilet bowl.  It should fit along the rim of the hole and create a seal.  This seal helps loosen the clog.  

Once you’ve got your plunger night and sealed against the rim of the toilet bowl hole in the bottom of the bowl start pushing your plunger in and out.  This motion creates suction and will move the clog around.  After half a dozen tries, you should see the water level start to drain.  If you feel the water level is low enough, give it a test flush and see if you’ve worked you clog loose.

If the clog is still not cleared, you will have to work at it with your plunger for awhile longer.  Try flushing again to see if the clog has been removed.  You might end up with some nasty poop surprise on the end of your plunger.  You should remove this and put it in a garbage bag and try plunging the hole in your toilet bowl again.

Use the Right Toilet Plunger

types of plungers

From left to right, toilet/flange plunger, 2 accordion plungers, a sink plunger, and another accordion plunger.
Source: Home Depot

What kind of plunger do you need for a toilet? You need a flange plunger that is shaped specifically to form a good seal on your toilet bowl. They are the best type of plunger for a toilet.

Types of Plungers: Flange Plunger/Toilet Plunger 

Flange or toilet plunger is shaped differently than a sink plunger.

A flange/toilet plunger also has a rubber end on it, but the rubber is shaped differently. It’s longer, so that is can form a proper seal on your toilet bowl.

This gives it the ability to form a good amount of suction pressure on the rim of the bowl.

Having a ton of suction is KEY to successfully removing clogs from your toilet the first time.

How to Unclog a Toilet with Poop Still in it with a Hanger

We cover this topic in depth in our post How to snake a toilet with a Hangar.  Here is a quick run down of our method:

  1. Unwind the hanger at the top where the two pieces are tightly wound together to make a decently long piece of wire
  2. Don’t straighten the hooked part of your hanger
  3. Wrap a rag around the hooked part of the hanger to keep it from scratching your porcelain toilet bowl. The only way to fix that is to buy and install a new toilet
  4. Secure the rag with duct tape
  5. Insert the wrapped up part of your hanger into your toilet pipe
  6. Keep pushing it into the pipe until you feel it stop.  That’s probably your clog
  7. Move and twist the hanger around inside your toilet pipe to dislodge the clog
  8. You know you’ve gotten the clog out when the water starts to drain out of your toilet bowl
  9. Flush your toilet a few times to make sure you’ve gotten the clog

Unclog a Toilet with Poop Still in it with a Toilet Brush

This is only going to work temporarily and only on shallow clogs.  What to do if your toilet is clogged with poop and you only have a toilet brush?  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Unclog a toilet fast this way, but not permanently.  Grab yourself a plunger or a toilet auger to prevent future clogs from happening.

Gear up with all the safety gear to keep poop water from splashing on you.  You will insert your toilet brush into the hole in the bottom of your toilet bowl and push it down as far as it can go, over and over again.  You may see the water level drop enough that you could try to flush it.  If it flushes, you’ve cleared your clog for now.  If not, you should repeat the above step until you get your toilet running clear.

What Breaks Down Poop in a Toilet

There are many ways listed online that can help break down poop in a toilet.  These are  the 2 ways that we love and find work the best to break down poop in a toilet.

  • Warm water
  • Vinegar and Baking Soda

Warm water, very warm water will tend to break down poop just enough to get it down the drain.

Vinegar and Baking Soda together, form a chemical reaction that cleans and may help to dissolve organic material like poop.  Truth being said, when you pour warm water into the bowl along with the vinegar and baking soda, the warm water does most of the work.

While the two methods above will get your toilet running fast, they are not a permanent solution to your poop problems.  Buying a toilet auger is your best bet to really clean out your pipes.

Unclog Your Toilet without a Plunger

We go into great detail in our post HERE about this subject, giving you 8 ways to do it.

What Plunger do I Use for Which Clogs?

PlungerUse
SinkSink Drains
FlangeToilet
AccordionToilet

Toilet Clog Prevention

Here are some tips to prevent future toilet clogs:

  • Don’t flush too much TP down the toilet at once
  • Flush multiple times during a big poop
  • Watch that the kids don’t flush anything
  • Don’t flush any wipes down the toilet. It doesn’t matter if they say they are “flushable”. They aren’t. Most of my service calls are for this issue.
  • Clean out your pipes twice per year with a toilet auger
  • Don’t flush cat litter: it turns into cement in your pipes
  • Don’t flush paper towel
  • Don’t flush large feminine hygiene products
  • Grease should be poured into a container and thrown out, not down your toilet

Cost of Hiring a Plumber Versus Buying a Toilet Auger

Hiring a plumber to unclog your toilet costs anywhere from $100- 250, depending on the area and how complicated the clog is. A toilet auger can be as cheap as $30. You can also use your toilet auger as many times as you like, so I consider it an investment.

Conclusion

How to unclog a toilet with poop still in it is a dirty nasty job, but somebody’s got to do it and FAST.  We hope our top tips above help you to deal with a clogged toilet with poop and get your poop down the shoot.

FAQs

What chemical dissolves human feces in a toilet?

Green Gobbler and Raebic K97 work well.

How do you unclog a toilet fast when the bowl is full?

No easy solution other than manually scooping out the water until the level is quite low then either plunging it, using a toiler auger (fastest) or using a chemical poop dissolver listed above (slowest).