To use a plunger correctly, fill the cup with water rather than air, seal it over the drain hole, then push down gently and pull up hard. Repeat five or six times. The upward pull is what shifts the clog, not the downward push.
Most people do the opposite. They lean into it like they’re doing CPR, hear a lot of splashing, and end up with a wet floor and a toilet that still won’t drain. Five or six correct strokes will do more than five minutes of that.
If a blockage is going to move, it usually moves within about ten minutes of proper plunging. Past that, the problem is further down the line and a plunger won’t reach it.
What Is the Correct Way to Plunge a Toilet?
The secret trick to plunging a clogged toilet is “burping” the plunger first. By entering the bowl at an angle, you let the cup fill with water instead of trapped air. Water doesn’t compress. Air does. So a cup full of water sends your force straight to the clog instead of soaking it up.
That single adjustment makes more difference than any amount of extra effort.
The 4-step plunging technique
1. Get the water level right.
The bowl should be about halfway full. If it’s brimming, bail some out with a jug or an old container so you’re not wearing it. If it’s nearly empty, add water until the plunger cup will be fully submerged. You’re plunging water, not air.
2. “Burp” the plunger.
Lower the plunger into the bowl at roughly a 45 degree angle so the cup fills with water as it goes under. You’ll see the air escape. This is the step almost everyone skips.
3. Seat it and seal it.
Bring the plunger upright and place it straight down over the drain hole. If you’re using a flange plunger, the rubber sleeve should tuck into the opening. Press down firmly. You want a tight seal against the porcelain.
4. Push gently, pull hard.
Push down softly, just enough to maintain the seal, then pull up sharply and forcefully. Repeat that rhythm five or six times, keeping the seal intact the whole way through. On the final pull, yank the plunger clear of the drain.
The upward pull is what breaks the clog apart. Think of it as dragging the blockage back towards you rather than shoving it further down the line.
Try this now
- Warm the rubber. Hold the plunger under hot water for 60 seconds before you start. Softer rubber moulds to the porcelain and gives you a far stronger seal.
- Lubricate first. Add a good squirt of dishwashing liquid and a cup of hot (not boiling) water to the bowl, then let it sit for five minutes before you plunge. Boiling water can crack the porcelain, so keep it hot rather than rolling.
Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Using a flat-bottomed sink plunger | Use a flange plunger, the type with a protruding rubber sleeve that extends from the cup. A flat cup can’t seal a toilet drain. |
| Pushing hard and pulling gently | Reverse it. Push gently to hold the seal, pull hard to shift the clog. |
| Breaking the seal between strokes | Keep the cup seated on the drain the whole way through. If it lifts off, you’re back to square one. |
| Plunging into a full bowl | Bail down to about halfway first, unless you fancy redecorating the bathroom. |
How Do I Know If I’m Plunging Correctly?
You’re doing it right if the plunger fights you on the way up. If it lifts away from the drain easily, you’ve lost your seal and you’re just sloshing water around the bowl.
Two quick self-checks
The sound test. Listen for a deep, heavy “gug-gug” coming from inside the pipe. That’s the sound of pressure moving through the trap and into the drain line. Surface-level splashing means the energy is staying in the bowl.
The flush test. Don’t reach for the button after plunging. If the blockage is still there, you’ll flood the floor. Instead, tip a bucket of water directly into the bowl. If it drains away quickly, you’re clear and it’s safe to flush normally.
What progress looks like
| Stroke | What you should notice |
|---|---|
| Strokes 1 to 3 | The clog shifts slightly. The resistance on the pull changes. |
| Strokes 4 to 5 | Water drops suddenly out of the bowl with a gurgle as the blockage lets go. |
| Six strokes, nothing moved | More of the same won’t help. Move to an auger, or get a licensed plumber who specialises in toilet repairs onto it. |
Why Won’t My Toilet Unclog Even Though I’m Using a Plunger?
Ten minutes of proper plunging should be enough. If the bowl still fills and drains away slowly after that, the blockage is either too far down the line for a plunger to reach, or it’s something solid that won’t break up. Toys, toothbrushes, wet wipes and sanitary products all fall into that category.
Wipes are worth singling out. Australia has had a published standard since 2022 that defines what “flushable” actually means. AS/NZS 5328 requires a product to break apart so that after 60 minutes under the same forces found in a wastewater pipe, most of it is in pieces smaller than 2.45cm square. That’s the bar. Very few products clear it. As of late 2024, the water industry body that runs the testing knew of only four manufacturers with compliant products on Australian shelves. Anything without that proof is a fair bet to survive the trip down your drain line, whatever the packet says.
What to do next
Stop plunging. Continuing to hammer away at a hard obstruction can wedge it tighter. Worse, the pressure can blow out the seal where the pan connects to the drain, which turns a blocked toilet into a leak under your floor. That’s a much bigger and more expensive job, and one that often needs proper leak detection to trace.
Change tools. Move up to a toilet auger, sometimes called a closet auger or a plumber’s snake. It’s a flexible cable that feeds through the trap and either breaks up or retrieves the blockage. Toilet augers have a protective sleeve so they don’t scratch the porcelain. A general-purpose drain snake will.
Test the other fixtures. Run the basin, then the shower. If they gurgle or back up as well, the problem isn’t your toilet at all. You’ve got a blockage in the main sewer line, and no amount of plunging any single fixture will fix it.
Know when to call. Get a licensed plumber in if multiple drains are backing up, if a toilet auger fails to clear it, if you know something solid went down there, or if there’s any sign of water escaping around the base of the pan. If it’s your only toilet and it’s gone completely, that’s an emergency plumbing job rather than a weekend project.
This isn’t a rare problem. Sydney Water reported in 2021 that it was dealing with around 30,000 wastewater blockages a year, with about 75% of them still involving wet wipes, at a cost of roughly $8.8 million annually to clear. On Sydney’s North Shore, mainline blockages are very often tree roots finding their way into older clay sewer lines, and that needs a CCTV drain camera and a proper clearing machine, not a hardware store fix.
Will a Clogged Toilet Unclog Itself If You Let It Sit?
A toilet will only unclog itself if the blockage is purely organic waste and toilet paper that dissolves. Given time, water slowly breaks those materials down until they pass through. Anything that isn’t water-soluble will sit there indefinitely.
The two-hour rule
In our experience, if a toilet is going to clear on its own, you’ll know within an hour or two. Leaving it overnight or for days doesn’t improve your odds. It makes things worse. The weight of the standing water compacts the waste, and paper that would have dissolved turns into something closer to papier-mâché, which is much harder to shift.
How to use the waiting time properly
Wait one hour, then look at the water level.
- Level has dropped: water is getting past, so the blockage is partial and organic. Add hot water and dishwashing liquid, wait fifteen minutes, and plunge again using the technique above.
- Level hasn’t moved: passive waiting has failed. Time to plunge properly, and if that doesn’t work, move to an auger or call someone.
The short version
Buy a flange plunger, not a sink plunger. Burp the air out of the cup before you seat it. Keep the bowl about half full. Push gently, pull hard, and keep the seal. Test with a bucket, not the flush button. And if the other drains in the house are gurgling too, stop plunging and pick up the phone, because the problem is downstream of your toilet.
Get it looked at properly if you’ve tried all of that and the toilet is still backing up. Ready Set Plumb is a licensed plumbing and gas fitting business based in Roseville, covering the North Shore and greater Sydney, with a Lifetime Labour Guarantee and a fixed price before any work starts. Call 0422 704 670 or request a free quote.
