Terri Ramsey Beavers Unfortunately, there may come a time when your child chooses to flush something down the toilet that shouldn’t be flushed. And while things might turn out okay and everything with your plumbing continues to work how it should, if this isn’t the case, it’s good to know what you can do to help you get that item out of the toilet and get things back to running as they should.
To help you in doing this, here are three things to do if your kid flushes something down the toilet.
Determine If You Need To Retrieve The Item
Once you’ve been informed that something that shouldn’t be flushed has been flushed down the toilet, the first thing that you’ll want to do is determine what that thing was and if it’s something that you need to retrieve.
If the item that’s been flushed is something that you need to have back, like a wedding ring or just an item that you can’t hope to have safely flushed, you’ll need to then figure out a plan for getting that thing back out of the toilet while causing the minimal amount of damage. If you can, try to just reach in and see if you can grab whatever was flushed. But if this isn’t possible, you might want to try using a plunger, a bent hanger, or a drain snake to get that item to come back out of the toilet into the bowl.
Find A Way To Flush The Item Entirely
If what your child has tried to flush down the toilet is something that you don’t need to try to get out, you may want to try to get this item to just flush down the toilet entirely.
For items that are small or malleable, you may be able to just flush the toilet a few times and have the water do most of the work for you. In other situations, you might need to use something like a closet auger to break up whatever it was that’s been flushed until it’s small enough or broken up enough that it can safely flush down entirely.
Consider Removing Or Replacing The Toilet
If you can’t get the item out on your own and you’re having a hard time getting the toilet to function as it should, you should probably call in a plumbing professional to help you. They may recommend something like removing the toilet to see if there’s more that can be done or even just entirely replacing the toilet if it’s not salvageable.
If your child has flushed something down the toilet that they shouldn’t have, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you know what to do next.