How to Drain a Toilet Bowl When the Flush Is Broken

There's a simple way to flush the toilet without using the flusher.

There are several parts to a toilet that help it flush. When you lift the lid off the tank, you'll find a fill valve, which fills the tank with water, a float ball, which floats and shuts off the fill valve when the tank's full, and a flapper that opens up to drain out the water. The flapper is connected, usually via chain, to the flush. If the chain breaks, however, or if any of the other parts break, there are ways to flush the toilet while waiting for replacement parts.

Things You'll Need

• Pitcher

Instructions

1. Open the lid of the tank and set it to the side. Look down to see if the tank's full of water.

2. Reach down and lift the rubber flapper, which looks like a rubber cap on the bottom of the tank. Water should begin draining out of the tank and the toilet bowl. If new water does not come out of the fill valve to replace the lost water, then the fill valve is broken as well.

3. Fill the tank with water from your bathtub using a pitcher. Since the fill valve is broken, the toilet will not flush again until the tank is filled with water. Once filled, you can flush the toilet by flipping up the rubber flapper. Repeat the process as needed.

Tips & Warnings

• The parts in the back of the toilet tank are fairly easy to replace as most, including the flapper and fill valve, simply snap on in most toilet applications. Sometimes you'll just need to attach the chain of the flusher handle to the flapper, as it may come loose, to solve your problem.

References

• Did it on My Own: Toilet Parts
• Toilet Repairs