Blocked and leaking toilet.

NornIronRose

Upstairs toilet blocked a couple of weeks ago. I plunged it and it was fine until this weekend when it has blocked again. 

I have plunged it to no effect. Tried online remedy of soda crystals and vinegar chased by boiling water. No joy. 

Realised that it is leaking where the waste pipe goes into the wall. Could the leak be due to me plunging it, therefore forcing water around a blockage and making it dribble out behind the toilet pan?

I want to do everything myself before I resort to getting a plumber, but I have been fighting with it for two days already. I used a cup and sponge to remove all of the standing water and the leak at the back has stopped. 

I was recommended to get Monument Tools Toilet Plunger MP1600 (plumb2u.com) but am reluctant to try it in case any more water leaks. 

Any help would be really appreciated please. 

flashg67

It is possible that the pressure of plunging has caused the leak. It is pretty disgusting, but have you treed a gloved hand as far into the u bend as possible to see whether it can be pushed through? if not, a 'drain snake' is a cheap option to try. On the outside soil pipe, is there a small access point - you might be able to see if the blockage is toilet end, or further down the system 

NornIronRose

I have had my hand in as far as I could. Only got poo out. 
Happy to try a drain snake if it isn't going to cause further leakage. I have the house on the market just now and really need this sorted properly. 

Thanks Flashg67. 

grumbler

flashg67 said:

It is possible that the pressure of plunging has caused the leak. It is pretty disgusting, but have you treed a gloved hand as far into the u bend as possible to see whether it can be pushed through?

Water leaking behind the toilet means that the blockage is further down the pipe, not in the toilet U-bend.

NornIronRose said:

...Tried online remedy of soda crystals and vinegar chased by boiling water.

It's an urban myth that this 'remedy' can do anything besides producing CO2 that hardly can help with unblocking better than plunging. Try some proper drain unblocker instead.

plumb1_2

Don’t put a drain snake in the toilet pan, as you will scratch it and leave black marks that you won’t get rid of.
check the manhole outside 

NornIronRose

Thank you both. Will have a go when I'm off in a few days. Thankfully we have another toilet. 

sevenhills

A neighbour has a blocked drain, he has a manhole cover in his garden, perhaps you have the same? There is 💩 coming out of the hole, it has lifted the cover off.
A job for professionals.

mi-key

Normally if a toilet is blocking the blockage isn't actually in the u-bend, it is much further down the pipes of the house ( when mine blocked the actual blockage was about 15 metres away ). Get the manhole / drain cover up and see if that is full, if it is you need to use rods down that to clear it. If it isn't then you know the blockage is between the drain and the toilet and can try rodding from the drain to see if that helps ( beware of a sudden deluge of horrible stuff if it does clear though !!! ) 

NornIronRose

That's really helpful mi-key. Sets out really clearly what I need to do. 
When people mentioned manhole cover etc up there, I wasn't sure what exactly I should do. 

mi-key

NornIronRose said:

That's really helpful mi-key. Sets out really clearly what I need to do. 
When people mentioned manhole cover etc up there, I wasn't sure what exactly I should do. 

No problem. If you dont get any joy with those methods, at least you should be able to identify where the blockage is. You may need to get someone in to clear it depending on the layout of the pipes 

NornIronRose

Just had a thought. We have 2 toilets and the downstairs one is fine. Would that have a bearing on whether the boockage is further up maybe? 
Surely if it's in the main waste pipes outside both Would be blocked.