If you’re planning to repair or replace your toilet, you might need to completely drain the tank and bowl. Or if you just want to give your toilet a thorough cleaning, you’ll still need to drain the tank and bowl. Sounds complicated, right? But you shouldn’t worry that much, because there is always a solution to every problem. The best way to do this is to combine multiple techniques and everything can be done in just a couple of minutes. Keep reading to find out how!
1. Shutting Off the Water Supply
The first and the most important thing you need to do, before anything else is, shut off your toilet’s main water supply. Then flush it thoroughly. Doing this will remove a significant amount of water from the bowl and tank. Sometimes this is the only step you’ll need to do, and if you are lucky enough, all of the water will go, and you will have an empty toilet, ready to be cleaned, replaced, or fixed.
But it’s important to note that this method is only applicable if your toilet doesn’t feature a clog. If it’s clogged, you’ll need to try something else, and one of those things you can try is plunging it.
2. Plunging
You can also opt to plunge your toilet bowl to drain any remaining water. The motion produced by the plunger forces water out of the toilet trap. This method is particularly useful for eliminating any remaining water in a toilet that’s clogged.
Flushing a clogged toilet makes it harder for you to empty the bowl as it might overflow.
Start by turning off the water supply. Then place the plunger over the toilet’s drain opening. Plunge the toilet to get rid of any water held inside the trap. Plunging will also generate some pressure that’ll remove any existing clogs. Also, be sure to do a gentle first plunge. This is important because if you do it hard it will force the air back around the seal and that will end up in a huge mess and water all over the bathroom and you will be soaked.
Once you’ve done that, go ahead and flush your toilet. This will go a long way in emptying the toilet tank. But there is a possibility that your clog is making a huge problem and that it can’t be fixed with plunging and flushing. If that’s the case you’ll need to do something else.
3. Siphoning
Siphoning is another popular technique of removing water from the toilet. All you need is a short and highly flexible hose. This technique is very simple, but it includes you getting into contact with a lot of dirt. So if you don’t like the idea of you being covered in unidentified dirt, be sure to wear safety equipment, or opt for another technique.
Wear some rubber gloves as you’ll be required to dip one of your hands into the toilet water. Fill the hose with water. Then plug both pipe openings with your fingers to make sure that the water available within the hose won’t escape. If water escapes, the hose will be filled with air, something which could end up breaking the siphon.
Remove your fingers from the openings of the hose and water will start flowing freely from the toilet bucket. Just make sure that the end in the bucket stays at a lower position than that in the toilet to pave way for siphoning.
4. Sponging
Upon emptying your toilet using the above methods, some water may still be left behind. You can dry the toilet completely through sponging. Take an absorbent sponge and clear up any residual water.
Always wear gloves when sponging the toilet. And once the sponge is fully soaked in water, squeeze it to your bathroom drain or bucket. This can be a bit boring because it’s a bit of a slow process and you need to do it until there’s no more water left.
5. Vacuuming
You can also do wet-dry vacuuming to remove water from your toilet. This technique is only convenient for draining clean toilet water. Please remember to never vacuum dirty toilet water. To get into the wet mode, you’ll have to detach the vacuum filter. When vacuuming, avoid overfilling the bin as this would lead to water spillage around your house as you move the heavy vacuum. Also, this technique is much easier and faster than sponging.
Other useful tips
- It’s gonna be messy – Even if you are super careful it’s going to be messy, and you will certainly spill some water. So be sure to lay down some old towels or some cloth around the base of your toilet. This way any water that spills will be soaked up.
- Cut off the water supply – We already mentioned this, but we need to do it again because it is very important. You always need to cut off the water supply before you do anything because if you don’t do it your toilet won’t drain properly. That can also cause a serious water leak and a real mess in your bathroom.
- Don’t throw things into your toilet – If you want to avoid clogging your toilet you shouldn’t throw things that are not supposed to be thrown into a toilet. The toilet is not a garbage can, and you should especially explain that to your kids if you have them.
- Don’t use chemicals for unclogging – Chemicals can sometimes work, but most often they are very slow, and they don’t do the job. And chemicals are just not good and you will end up with a drain full of corrosive water.
Conclusion
Before replacing or repairing your toilet, you’ll need to drain it completely. And there are several ways to do it; vacuuming, siphoning, sponging, and plunging. For a quicker fix, you’ll need to combine multiple methods. Plus, you need to get it right with the new toilet you purchase. For quality toilet equipment, try the EasyMerchant shop today!
