Having a toilet back up can fill anyone with dread, especially if you need to get it cleared quickly. To prevent this kind of emergency from happening in the future, make sure that you have these three tools in your home to effectively clear the toilet every time.

Well-Fitting Plunger

Most people have plungers in their homes, but that doesn't mean that your plunger will be as effective as it should be. In some cases, plungers will break down over time, especially if you have an older rubber plunger. If a plunger's material starts to break down, it can become rigid and won't give you the full suction you need to clear a toilet.

In addition, many people upgrade to new toilets and don't get a new plunger to match. This is a problem because not all plungers fit all toilet holes. Low-flow toilets in particular tend to have more oblong or rectangular holes at the bottom to allow more water to flow through at once. Circular plungers don't fit these holes very well, which can limit your ability to apply pressure effectively. Make sure that the plunger you have is still working well on your current toilet.

Large Bucket

Another tool you should have on hand is a large bucket that can hold many gallons of water at once. If your plunger fails or you don't have a good one, you can fill a large bucket with water to clear the toilet. To do this, simply fill the bucket, bring it to the toilet bowl, and rapidly pour it directly into the hole of the toilet. The sudden pressure will often help to push down the clog, even if it's beyond the reach of a toilet plunger.

Toilet Snake

Lastly, having a toilet snake on-hand is one of the most important tools you can have in your bathroom. Toilet snakes are designed, as the name implies, to snake down the hole of the toilet and clear up clogs. When plungers and buckets can't clear the drain, toilet snakes often can.

The main problem with plungers and buckets that snakes don't have is that the clog is often beyond the curve of the pipe leading from your toilet. It's very hard to get pressure to this part of the pipe. However, a toilet snake is flexible and can slide down the entire length of the pipe, reaching clogs and breaking them up to allow the prior two tools to flush the clog out of the pipe.

Having a clogged toilet can be a real pain, but with these three tools on hand, you'll be able to break through the vast majority of clogs. If you still have problems that you can't seem to beat with the tools you have on-hand, contact a plumber. This may indicate that you have a problem further down the line, or that there's an issue with the sewer line that drains sewage from your home into the sewer.

Contact professionals like Peoples Plumbing LLC if you need further assistance.