Will Your Toilet Eventually Unclog Itself? Can You Let It Sit?

Short answer, maybe.

Long answer, some clogs can dissolve over the course of a few hours while others can’t. 

I understand the question, though. 

Maybe it’s late at night when you’re reading this and you can’t call a plumber. You find yourself without a proper plunger and the stores are closed.

So, you’re hoping in the morning it will be resolved while you sleep.

What happens if you get up in the morning and are faced with a still clogged toilet? Now you understand why you should take care of it right away.

In this article, we will go over a few scenarios so you understand what you are dealing with. This way you’ll know if you need to call a plumber or not.

In the meantime, order yourself some tools to keep your toilet running freely by checking out the table below of some must have toilet maintenance tools.

Why your slow flush is a problem

You probably have a partial blockage if your flush is weak and doesn’t clear completely.

And a partial blockage is temporary. What I mean by that is if you don’t take care of it it will become permanent and you’ll need a plumber.

If this is a common occurrence then you need to read the full article I wrote about how to deal with it as there are several possibilities as to why. Click here to read it.

If it is the first time then it could be that some things were flushed that shouldn’t have been.

Toilet paper clog: Will it dissolve?

If it is simply that you have a wad of toilet paper that got stuck then it isn’t a disaster. Toilet paper is formulated to basically dissolve when it sits for awhile in water. 

If it is particularly persistent then you can plunge it if you have a toilet plunger. If you don’t have one then check the next step.

DIY toilet drano

Before I begin let me say that you should never use Drano or any other type of drain unclogger as they can ruin your toilet. There is a powder you can put in called Green Gobbler that is safe to use. If you happen to have some use that. If not I suggest ordering some and always having it on hand.

You can make your own drain unclogger with some basic pantry items that won’t destroy your toilet bowl and is safe for the environment, too.

Pour a cup of baking soda into your toilet bowl followed by a gallon of hot water. NOT BOILING! Boiling water will crack your toilet bowl. Make sure it isn’t more than 150°F and you should be fine.

Lastly, add a cup of white vinegar.

It will fizz up quite a bit so hopefully there is some room in the toilet bowl for this.

Leave it for a couple of hours and it should flow on its own. You may need to repeat the process if it doesn’t go the first time.

Flushable wipes that aren’t actually flushable

Yes, those flushable wipes will clog your toilet. Most are mislabeled and others are total frauds and shouldn’t be near a toilet. 

Even ones that are accurately called flushable may still clog your toilet as they take time to bio dissolve. Then they can snag other material coming into the toilet. 

If you’ve been flushing these wipes, then this may be the cause of your clog and it won’t simply go away on its own.

You can do another DIY clog drainer and see if that works, but you will need a plunger to finish the job.

What you need to do is pour a cup of dishwashing liquid into your toilet bowl followed by a gallon of hot water. Again, do not pour boiling water into your toilet bowl or you risk cracking it. 

Let it sit for up to 30 minutes and then plunge. 

If it doesn’t go down you have a problem. You’ll need a toilet auger to get rid of the clog. If you don’t already have one, then when you do purchase one make sure it is long as you don’t know how far down the clog is in the pipes.

Really hard poop that won’t go down

This is a case in which your toilet will potentially unclog itself if you leave it. Especially overnight.

Let it sit for a few hours if you know it’s just a case of a particularly large or very hard poop that is causing the problem. If it still won’t flush, then you can try any of the DIY toilet drano recipes that I mentioned above. 

In fact, you may be able to use only hot water and have that help to soften it enough to flush down on its own.

The good news is that even if it takes a while, eventually it will soften enough to go down without doing anything at all, it just depends on how much time you have to let it run its course. Your best best is to use a little help with the hot water and other other methods. It’s clean and easy to take care of the problem this way.

If you don’t have time to wait, then you may need to actually put on some gloves and use your hand to move it along.

Got hard poop?

I wrote a detailed article about how to deal with hard poop that won’t flush. If this is your problem then click to read it here!

What can happen if you don’t unclog your toilet

A rare, but not unheard of problem that can happen if you fail to unclog your toilet right away is an overflow.

Now, if it didn’t flow over the bowl when it was clogged it may seem like it won’t at all.

There is an issue with some toilets, particularly old ones, in which the flapper inside the tank is not sealed completely. Little by little water enters the bowl. Usually it isn’t a problem if the toilet isn’t clogged. It just flows into the pipes.

When it is clogged up then after a few hours you may find your toilet overflowing and flooding your bathroom.

Make sure you take care of your clogged toilet right away to avoid this problem.

Best way to unclog your toilet

When you see your toilet is starting to clog then take some steps to unclog it right away. 

Have the proper tools

Unclog your toilet with the proper tools. Make sure you always have the right kind of plunger on hand specifically for your toilet. These plungers are designed to fit perfectly in a toilet and create a seal for maximum effect when plunging. Don’t use a sink or tub plunger as they don’t work to push the clog through.

Even better is a power plunger that can blast just about anything through the pipes.

A toilet auger is also a must have and will save you hundreds of dollars in plumber fees. There comes a time when you need to call in a plumber, but for most clogs a plunger and auger are going to take care of it.

Stop the bowl from overflowing

As soon as you see that the water is slow to go down or filling up quickly, you need to open the tank and push the flapper down. That is the rubber seal that opens and closes to let the water into the bowl.

With that closed up then the toilet won’t continue to fill and you should be able to contain the damage. 

Upgrade your toilet

If you have this problem often then you should look into getting a toilet that rarely clogs.

There are toilets called pressure assisted and they are very difficult to clog up as they use air pressure to blast the water in the bowl down the drain.

Many clogs don’t stand a chance when you have a pressure assisted toilet.

You can retrofit your current toilet to be a pressure assisted version since it is a tank that goes inside the tank of your current toilet. Not all of them fit all toilets, though as they aren’t universal, so make sure you are checking if they fit your particular model.

If you are using an old toilet, and you are seeing frequent clogs, then I suggest replacing it with a power assisted toilet as they pay for themselves in the savings by not calling a plumber.

Here are some of the best pressure assisted toilets you can get on Amazon.com.

Conclusion

Calling a plumber is expensive and unclogging the toilet yourself can be messy.

I know how tempting it is to just see if your toilet will unclog itself eventually, but it really isn’t worth it.

Make sure that the first time it happens that you get the right tools to unclog it quickly next time it does get blocked. You won’t regret being prepared!

If you have any questions, then drop a line in the box below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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