rag stuck in toilet drain, can it be disolved?

Question

wiyh any type of chemical?

Answer 1

Unfortunately probably not. It's time to call the plumber.

Answer 2

You can try all sorts of things but removing the toilet completely is not a difficult task and you gain access to the drain pipe, the toilet outlet opening and the bowl all at the same time. All for under $5 at any building supply store. If you can't get the rag out by other methods lift the toilet like this:

1. Turn off the water to the toilet.
2. With a large sponge, sponge the water out of the bowl and the tank. (hopefully, the rag went down a clean toilet! See why you should keep your toilets clean?
3. With a couple of wrenches, disconnect the water supply from the toilet. Be sure to put a pan under it and have a sponge ready. It will dribble water left in the pipe and those valves tend to leak too.
4. Pry up the decorative caps covering the bolts/nuts on each side of the toilet and remove the nuts. This area tends to be nasty as nobody I know ever removes those decorative caps to clean. The bolts might be rusty too so some penetrating oil would help.
5. Lift the whole toilet straight up and off the drain pipe. Two people makes the job of moving it easier.

Turn the toilet on it's side and get the rag out. Check out any other obstructions in the toilet and the drain pipe and you may find your toilet works one heck of a lot better than before this happened and it was a good thing.

6. With a metal putty knife, scrape away all the old wax (icky job but somebody's got to do it) until you are down to the drain flange. This is a good time to clean the floor really well too.
7. Put a new toilet seal onto the drain pipe. This is merely a wax ring available at any Home Depot, Lowes or any other building supply place. They come with a plastic funnel like thing coming out of the wax... that directs waste into the drain pipe. New bolts can be installed at the same time. They just slide into slots on the drain flange and stick up through the toilet bolt holes on each side.
8. As squarely as possible, lower the toilet onto the wax seal ring while guiding the new bolts through the bolt holes. It will sit on the wax and you will have to push down on the toilet to sueeze the wax around to form a flange to toilet seal.
9. When the toilet is pressed all the way down, put on the washers and nuts on the new bolts and tighten only enough to keep the toilet from rocking. Too tight and you could crack the porcelain toilet. Cut off excess bolt length with some cutters or a hacksaw and put the decorative caps back on.
10. Reconnect the water tube to the toilet using two wrenches.
11. Turn on the toilet water supply valve.
12. Check for leaks at the tubing connections. Even if you don't see an leaks, take a paper towel and lay it on the floor under all the connections. See if there are water drips on the paper the next day. Stop all leaks or they will migrate to the walls and cause big problems.
13. After the tank fills and stops, flush the toilet a couple of times and verify the wax seal is definitely sealing the toilet. Leaks there are particularly nasty!

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/bath/fixt_repair/toilet/wax_ring/replace.htm

All this doesn't take over an hour or two for a novice... darn near minutes for a pro... Follow these steps only if you can't fish the rag out with a drain chaser type tool. These are handy to have in the garage and don't cost much either. Home Depot again! They make hand held versions with a small holding bin and a crank handle. A cable comes out of the end with a sprial on the end that has a sharp point. You let some of the cable out and push it into the toilet while turning the crank... the turning end spiral makes it's way through the bends of the toilet and the sharp point catches on the obstruction. You can feel the difference between a clear pipe and running into an obstruction. When you feel it grab something, merely pull it back out with the obstruction attached. Presto, you are done!

Hand operated:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1498140300.1157894535@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccecaddiklkkhdgcgelceffdfgidgln.0&MID=9876

Drill operated:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1505245405.1157894080@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdgaddiklkkghgcgelceffdfgidglo.0&MID=9876

Good luck!

Answer 3

This is a bad situation with a rag stuck in the toilet drain. It's
a dicey job for anyone to carry out. Don't pour any chemicals,
or acid into the toilet drain as you may make it worse. The
pipe may corrode. Try using a long and flexible wire cord at
its end with a hook to fish it out. After a while if it doesn't work,
call an experienced plumber to get the rag out. (he's got
special tools to get it out, I believe).

Answer 4

No, probably not with anything you'll get off the shelf. And anything that dissolves a rag may wreak havoc with your piping.

You need to fish it out (buy a snake and do it yourself) of get a plumber.

Good luck!

Answer 5

What the...? That is the craziest crap I've heard in a long time. I thought April Fools' wasn't for another couple of weeks yet. Good grief.

Answer 6

My farther is a plumber,I wouldn't just pour just any kind of corrosive chemical down there;it could rot the pipes.Try snaking it out if you can find one to use.

Answer 7

Good suggestion Trips.

Answer 8

Get the rods out quick before every thing starts backing up - yeergghh!

Answer 9

Rag, as in maxi pad rag ???

Answer 10

why would you put a rag in there?